Multidisciplinary Simulation Training to Improve Nursing Knowledge of Intraoperative Malignant Hyperthermia

Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a rare but severe reaction that can occur in the operating room. Due to the low volume of these reactions, nurses are often unprepared to handle the event; however, not recognizing the event and intervening can lead to the death of the patient. This is a practice problem that can be addressed through a nursing staff education simulation training program. The purpose for this doctoral project was to develop a multidisciplinary MH simulation program that could improve nursing knowledge when caring for patients experiencing an MH crisis in the operating room. The practice-focused question for this project asked whether MH multidisciplinary simulation education improves the knowledge of nurses in the operating room setting. Utilizing Kolb’s theory of experiential learning, nurses were developed through the four stages of learning. Sources of evidence for this project included a review of the literature. Data were also collected pre- and post-intervention on the reliability of simulation training to improve operating room nurses’ knowledge of caring for the patient experiencing an MH crisis. Descriptive statistics via percent difference evaluated pre- and post-test evaluations. Results revealed a 16.4% increase knowledge scores from pretest to posttest following participation in the MH simulation. Improving patient outcomes creates significant social impact by developing community confidence in the surgical care provided by local hospitals