Developing a Tool to Assess Placement of Central Venous Catheters in Pediatrics Patients

ABSTRACT Background Pediatric critical care medicine requires the acquisition of procedural skills, but to date no criteria exist for assessing trainee competence in central venous catheter (CVC) insertion. Objective The goal of this study was to create and demonstrate validity evidence for a direct observation tool for assessing CVC insertion. Methods Ten experts used the modified Delphi technique to create a 15-item direct observation tool to assess 5 scripted and filmed simulated scenarios of CVC placement. The scenarios were hosted on a dedicated website from March to May 2013, and respondents recruited by e-mail completed the observation tool in real time while watching the scenarios. The goal was to obtain 50 respondents and a total of 250 scenario ratings. Results A total of 49 pediatrics intensive care faculty physicians (6.3% of 780 potential subjects) responded and generated 188 scenario observations. Of these, 150 (79.8%) were recorded from participants who scored 4 or more on the 5 scenarios. ...