RQI Classes
What is RQI?
The American Heart Association RQI (Resuscitation Quality Improvement) program is the most popular, modern, and fast way for medical & healthcare professionals to receive their official American Heart Association BLS, ACLS, and PALS certification cards.
Three Easy Steps
1. Take the online course at home (a few hours).
2. Skills test with VAM (voice assisted manikin).
3. Receive the certification card on the day of class.
Modernizing Resuscitation Education: RQI, RQI Partners, and Voice-Assisted Manikins (VAM)
High-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) saves lives, yet decades of research show that CPR skills decay quickly after traditional, infrequent classes. The familiar “every two years” retraining rhythm is convenient for scheduling, but it doesn’t reliably maintain the psychomotor competence clinicians need at the bedside. Recognizing this gap, the American Heart Association (AHA) introduced the Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI) model to shift the focus from occasional course completion to verified, sustained competence. The result is a modern training ecosystem—delivered through RQI Programs and powered by RQI Partners—that blends science, simulation, and data to help clinicians deliver high-quality CPR, every time.
What RQI Is—and Why It’s Different
RQI is the AHA’s performance-improvement approach to resuscitation education. Instead of concentrating learning into a single day every couple of years, RQI uses “low-dose, high-frequency” practice: brief, quarterly skills sessions that clinicians complete on strategically placed simulation stations. These sessions deliver real-time audiovisual feedback on rate, depth, recoil, ventilation, and other CPR metrics while capturing performance data in a learning management system for tracking and quality improvement. In practical terms, this means familiar skills are revisited in 10-minute refreshers—at or near the point of care—so proficiency is reinforced continuously rather than allowed to erode.
Beyond the skills refreshers, RQI emphasizes mastery learning. Learners practice until they meet defined performance targets, rather than simply completing minutes of instruction. RQI 2025 Programs explicitly codify this model and integrate outcome-focused metrics, enabling hospitals to standardize training and verify competence across teams and units. The approach is not only educationally sound—it’s designed to reduce operational friction compared with classroom-heavy models.
A notable program feature is the “rolling” or “perpetual” course-completion model. Clinicians enter with a current AHA card; each successful quarterly activity advances (or “rolls forward”) the expiration date by 90 days. The emphasis shifts from a deadline-driven certification cycle to continuous competence, aligned with how skills are actually used in clinical practice.
Who Delivers RQI? Inside RQI Partners
RQI Partners is the company formed by the AHA and Laerdal Medical to develop, deliver, and scale RQI Programs. The partnership blends the AHA’s leadership in resuscitation science and education with Laerdal’s expertise in simulation technology and implementation, creating a single organization focused on transforming resuscitation training and helping health systems adopt verified competence as the standard of care.
In practice, RQI Partners provides the simulation stations, digital platform, and services needed to deploy low-dose, high-frequency training across complex organizations—from hospitals and academic centers to outpatient networks. This includes data capture and reporting to support quality programs, audits, and leadership oversight.
Does RQI Work? Evidence and Outcomes
Multiple studies and program evaluations suggest RQI improves specific CPR performance elements and helps sustain competence over time. For example, nursing learners completing brief, quarterly practice on an RQI simulation station demonstrated effective maintenance of compression and ventilation skills—supporting the idea that frequent, feedback-guided refreshers counteract skill decay.
In frontline clinical environments, evaluations have shown improvements in compression metrics following RQI implementation, with some reports noting better pass rates and fewer attempts needed to meet performance thresholds. While effects can vary by context, staff mix, and local implementation, the weight of emerging evidence favors RQI’s low-dose, high-frequency approach as a practical method to keep skills sharp between rare real-world arrests.
Importantly, the RQI model is designed not only for educational efficacy but also for operational efficiency. RQI 2025 materials highlight potential cost advantages versus traditional, classroom-centric schedules—a consideration for hospitals balancing clinical priorities, staffing, and budgets. As always, individual results depend on local workflows, governance, and adherence.
Where VAM Fits: Voice-Assisted (or Advisory) Manikins
Voice-Assisted Manikin (VAM)—also referred to in the literature as “Voice Advisory Manikin”—describes manikins that deliver immediate, standardized, corrective audio cues (and often visual guides) as learners practice CPR. VAM technology is widely used in blended-learning courses, including AHA HeartCode® programs, in which learners complete an online cognitive component and then demonstrate psychomotor competence with an instructor or a VAM, where available. The VAM acts as a consistent, objective coach and assessor for core skills such as compression rate, depth, recoil, hand placement, and ventilation timing/volume.
The concept is well-studied. Classic investigations—spanning lay and professional audiences—show that automated voice feedback can improve initial skill acquisition and, in some comparisons, perform on par with instructor-facilitated training for specific psychomotor outcomes. These findings helped establish VAM as a credible option for hands-on skill verification in blended courses and as a supplement to instructor-led training.
VAM vs. RQI: Although both use feedback-enabled manikins, VAM is best understood as a tool or modality (an option for the hands-on session in blended learning), while RQI is an enterprise training system anchored in quarterly practice, continuous data, and mastery learning. VAM can be part of a skills verification pathway; RQI embeds recurring, point-of-care refreshers into organizational routines and captures performance data over time. Put simply, VAM helps verify skills; RQI helps maintain them.
How RQI Is Implemented in Hospitals
- Strategic station placement. Simulation stations are located in or near clinical units and accessible 24/7 to minimize friction. Completion time targets are typically around 10 minutes per quarterly module, making it feasible for busy staff to maintain competence without disrupting care.
- Governance and accountability. A local steering team (education, nursing, respiratory therapy, quality, code committee, and IT) sets expectations for timely completion, monitors participation, and aligns competencies with hospital policies and credentialing.
- Data-driven feedback. Performance data are reviewed at the individual and aggregate levels. Unit leaders use dashboards to spot trends (for example, shallow compressions or hyperventilation) and tailor just-in-time education or scenario practice accordingly.
- Integration with quality programs. RQI aligns naturally with resuscitation QI efforts (e.g., code blue debriefs, crash cart audits, and adherence to AHA Guidelines). Some organizations correlate RQI participation and skills data with resuscitation outcomes to guide improvement priorities.
- Change management and support. Early communication, super-user training, and responsive help-desk coverage reduce barriers, while celebrating milestones (e.g., 100% on-time completion) sustains engagement.
Choosing the Right Mix: RQI, VAM, and Instructor-Led Sessions
- RQI as the backbone for BLS competency maintenance among staff likely to participate in resuscitation. The quarterly cadence and mastery learning reinforce psychomotor skills and help standardize performance expectations across units.
- VAM-supported skills checks in HeartCode pathways for staff who require ACLS or PALS and for learners whose schedules or locations make instructor availability challenging. Where available, VAM provides a consistent, objective way to confirm hands-on competence following the online portion.
- Instructor-led simulations for team communication, leadership, and complex scenario management. These events complement the individual psychomotor focus of RQI and VAM by exercising non-technical skills and interprofessional coordination.
Practical Benefits for Organizations
- Reliability: Frequent, brief practice with objective pass criteria reduces the chance that clinicians drift below competence between rare arrests.
- Operational efficiency: Stations on the unit reduce travel and scheduling time. Many hospitals find it easier to maintain compliance because practice can occur during shifts, not on a classroom day months later.
- Transparency: Leaders have real-time visibility into who is current, which skills remain challenging, and where to focus support.
- Scalability and potential cost savings: RQI 2025 materials emphasize lower total program costs than traditional approaches—a meaningful consideration for large systems. Your actual savings will depend on staffing, equipment deployment, and change-management efficacy.
Bottom Line
Resuscitation training is evolving from periodic, time-boxed classes to continuous, data-guided competence. RQI operationalizes that evolution with low-dose, high-frequency practice at the point of care, rigorous mastery learning, and organization-wide visibility into skills. RQI Partners—created by the AHA and Laerdal—delivers the technology, services, and implementation support to make it work in complex healthcare environments. Meanwhile, Voice-Assisted (or Advisory) Manikin technology remains a valuable option within blended courses like HeartCode for verifying hands-on skills efficiently and consistently.
Used together and matched to local needs, Safety Training Seminars, RQI, RQI Partners, and VAM create a coherent pathway: learn the science, practice with feedback, verify competence, and keep it current. That pathway is increasingly the standard for modern resuscitation education—and a practical route to better performance when it matters most.