Practice to save lives: benefits of simulated practice in cardiopulmonary resuscitation teams training

HPA Magazine 24 // 2025

Enfª Inês Gomes

Nurse with an Advanced
Postgraduate Degree
in Intensive Care

Enfª Teresa Nunes

Nurse with an Advanced
Postgraduate Degree
in Intensive Care

Enfª Joana Russo

Nurse Specialist in Medical-Surgical Nursing with a specialization in People in Critical Situations
Master's in Nursing

Enfª Isabel Pires

Nurse Specialist in Medical-Surgical Nursing with a specialization in People in Critical Situations
Master's in Nursing
Head Nurse of the Intensive Care Unit at HPA Alvor

Cardiorespiratory arrest is a sudden event that involves the abrupt interruption or failure of cardiac and respiratory functions. It is estimated to affect between 350,000 and 700,000 individuals per year in Europe and around 10,000 individuals per year in Portugal. Following a cardiopulmonary arrest, the victim's chance of survival decreases by 10% for every minute that passes, meaning that after five minutes without assistance, the victim only has a 50% chance of survival. High-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation increases the patient's chance of survival without neurological sequelae by 2.72 times (Fundação Portuguesa de Cardiologia).
In cases of cardiorespiratory arrest, every second counts. An effective response from a trained team can make the difference between life and death.
The HPA Saúde Group has an In-Hospital Medical Emergency Team in its hospital units that responds to cardiorespiratory arrest situations in all inpatient services, outpatient consultation areas, complementary diagnostic examinations, and hospital common areas. The In-Hospital Medical Emergency Team consists of a Doctor and a Nurse from the Intensive Care Unit team assigned to each shift for this purpose. To ensure an effective response in cardiorespiratory arrest situations, the team undergoes mandatory training in Advanced Life Support every year.
To enhance the effectiveness of the In-Hospital Medical Emergency Team and improve their knowledge, the authors of this publication conducted an integrative review of the literature on the "Benefits of using simulated practice in the training of cardiopulmonary resuscitation teams." This review was presented in e-poster format at the 1st Scientific Nursing Conference on the theme: "Multiple approaches to the person throughout the life cycles", organized by the Jean Piaget School of Health of Algarve, held on March 19, 20, and 21, 2025. The following results are presented to increase the quality and safety of care provided.
 

Promoting the quality of resuscitation is crucial to enhance patient outcomes, and the survival rate can be increased with its effectiveness (Chen et al., 2025; Jeong et al., 2022). Cardiopulmonary resuscitation requires multidisciplinary collaboration, highlighting the importance of simulated practice in resuscitation teams (Ruangsomboon et al., 2023). Simulated practice is a learning strategy that uses simulations to reproduce real-life situations.
The use of simulated practice in resuscitation team training significantly enhances their skills, positively impacting the safety of care and reducing potential errors. It also provides a safe learning environment as it does not harm the patient (Jeong et al., 2022). Simulated training can influence not only the resuscitation skills of professionals but also the development of their team leadership abilities (Chen et al., 2025).
Training can be conducted through various hybrid programs that combine online content such as lectures and videos with practice in a simulated context. This simulation-based training offers opportunities to practice in realistic scenarios that can be replicated in real life, essential for improving the resuscitation team's capabilities and their response in actual cardiorespiratory arrest situations. Additionally, training in non-technical skills like communication and teamwork can be practiced in simulated scenarios as they are crucial in managing emergency situations effectively (Chen et al., 2025; Jeong et al., 2022; Ruangsomboon et al., 2023).
In conclusion, the main benefits of simulated practice in training cardiopulmonary resuscitation teams include enhancing resuscitation effectiveness, improving communication and team leadership, reducing technical errors, creating a safe learning environment, and developing soft skills.
These benefits will undoubtedly lead to increased patient survival rates, emphasizing the importance of training resuscitation teams through simulated practice. Healthcare teams must recognize the value of simulated practice and ensure its continuous and systematic integration into the training of cardiopulmonary resuscitation teams to enhance the quality and safety of care provided to patients.