Impact of the RUPICC course on self-perception of clinical competencies in cardiac surgery: a quasi-experimental pre-post course study in healthcare professionals.

INTRODUCTION

The care of patients undergoing cardiac surgery requires specific skills in resuscitation, clinical leadership, and crisis management.

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to evaluate the impact of the Urgent Sternotomy in Patients operated on for Cardiac Surgery (RUPICC) course on the self-perception of clinical competence of healthcare professionals working in Intensive Care Units (ICUs).

METHODS

A quasi-experimental pre-test-posttest study without a control group was carried out at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona to evaluate the impact of the RUPICC course on ICU professionals. A total of 262 doctors and nurses with cardiac surgery care activity participated. The intervention consisted of an intensive course of 7,5 h with theoretical content, high-fidelity clinical simulation and structured debriefing. Self-perception of competencies was assessed using a Likert scale (1-5) before and after training. The statistical analysis used Wilcoxon test, with significance at P<.05.

RESULTS

Effect estimation showed significant improvements in all items (P<.001), with especially marked increases in participants with less experience or lower baseline scores. The areas with the greatest impact were sterile resternotomy, advanced life support, and postoperative crisis management. The stratification of the population by sex, years of experience, care unit or professional category also showed improvements in the perception of competencies, with similar post-course scores, and with greater room for improvement in less specialized profiles. On the other hand, women started from lower pre-course scores, but achieved comparable scores after training.

CONCLUSIONS

The RUPICC course significantly improves the self-perception of clinical competencies in ICU professionals. Advanced simulation proves to be effective in standardizing skills in multidisciplinary teams, reducing gaps by sex, experience or care unit.