• Nancy M Tofil, Marjorie Lee White, Bryn Manzella, Denise McGill, and Lynn Zinkan.
• University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA. ntofil@peds.uab.edu
• Med Teach. 2009 Jun 1;31(6):e241-7.

BackgroundPediatric cardiopulmonary arrests are rare. Mock codes were instituted to bridge the gap between opportunity and reality.AimThe goal was to improve medical caregivers' skills in pediatric resuscitation.MethodsAll pediatric and internal medicine/pediatric (med/peds) residents were anonymously surveyed pre- and post-intervention about confidence level about codes and code skills. Twenty mock codes were conducted during the 1 year intervention period. Statistical comparisons were made between each resident pre- and post-survey, graduating third-year residents (PGY3s) prior to intervention versus PGY3s with mock codes and pediatric versus med/peds residents.ResultsAll residents significantly improved in their perception of overall skill level during the study (p < 0.0001). PGY3s were significantly more confident in their skills than PGY2s or PGY1s and PGY2s were significantly more confident than PGY1s both pre- and post-mock codes (p < 0.0001). Med/peds residents were significantly more confident in their skills than pediatric residents both pre- (p = 0.041) and post-intervention (p = 0.016). The two skills with the lowest score post-intervention were the ability to place an interosseous line and the ability to manage cardiac dysrhythmias.ConclusionsPediatric mock codes can improve resident confidence and self-assessment of their resuscitation skills. Data from surveys such as this can be used to design future skill-based educational initiatives.

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