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Crit Care Nurse 2003 Jun; 23(3): 80-79
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In Our Unit

Blitz Days Program Helps

Lauren M. Chadwick, RN, CCRN

Lauren M. Chadwick, RN, CCRN, is the staff development coordinator in the medical intensive care unit at Pitt County Memorial Hospital. For more information about the Blitz Days program, contact her at lchadwic{at}pcmh.com.

"In Our Unit" highlights unique practices, innovations, research, or resourceful solutions to commonly encountered problems in critical care areas and settings where critically ill patients are cared for. If you have an idea for an upcoming "In Our Unit," send it to CRITICAL CARE NURSE,101 Columbia, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656; fax, (949) 362-2049; e-mail, ccn{at}aacn.org.

In the medical intensive care unit at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, Greenville, NC, a new approach to teaching skills has proven to be not only popular with staff but also a benefit to instructors. Called Blitz Days, the program is presented annually to provide education regarding high-risk, low-volume skills and areas identified as needing continuous quality improvement.

Previously, the only teaching tool available for staff members who were invited to be instructors was a checklist of performance behaviors for each learning station that needed to be presented. Each instructor had to develop a teaching plan based on his or her own experience and the current policies. This made it difficult not only to enlist instructors, but also to verify the quality of the education that was offered. In addition, this process was difficult for the staff members, because there was no direction with respect to which policies or resources to review.


Among the members of the Blitz Days Committee for 2002 were (from left) Sherry Hoegy, Kim Ledoux, Michelle Tracy, Tiffany Hartman, and Lauren Chadwick.

With the support of our unit leadership, a Blitz Days Committee was formed in January 2001 to create instructor and employee packets that were based on research and that incorporated current policies. Each committee member developed a packet for the topic of his or her choice. The instructor packet contained clearly stated goals, self-explanatory teaching monary artery catheters, arterial catheters, continuous renal replacement therapy and activated clotting time validation, arrhythmia and advanced cardiac life support protocols, pulmonary, pleurovac, and transvenous pacing.

The committee met monthly to review the progress of and receive feedback on the packets. We learned how to access the library electronically, which was helpful to our members who were working the night shift. We sharpened our computer skills as we learned about many other resources the hospital offers. By August 2001, the packets were completed and sent to the printer.

Our first Blitz Days presentation was scheduled for 2 days in October. Because of scheduling conflicts, not all committee members were available to instruct on both days. However, the instructor packets made it easy to enlist other staff members to instruct.

Attendance was at 100% of staff, and the feedback was unanimously positive. Most of the staff members wanted to keep the packets, so we placed a copy in our education notebook to be used as a reference.

The success of this program has led to its expansion to our step-down unit. A new committee will review and revise current packets and create new ones.

Members of the Blitz Days Committee for 2002 were Lauren Chadwick, RN II, CCRN; Sherry Hoegy, RNI, Michelle Tracy, RN II, Tiffany Hartmann, RN III, BSN, Ayanna Whitfield, RN I, BSN, Maggie Pado, RN III, Eric Hudimac, RNI, MSN, Brian Bourgeois, RN III, and Sally Caviness, RN III, BSN. The instructors were Cathy Graham, RN, Dawn Distlecamp, RN, Amy Cecil, RNIII, BSN, Tracy Hobbs, RNII, BSN, and Stephanie Westbrook, RN, BSN, NM.





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