• Pediatr Crit Care Me · Nov 2009

    Performance of a consensus scoring algorithm for assessing pediatric advanced life support competency using a computer screen-based simulator.

    • Kathleen M Ventre, Dave S Collingridge, Deborah DeCarlo, and Howard A Schwid.
    • Division of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT, USA. Kathleen.ventre@hsc.utah.edu
    • Pediatr Crit Care Me. 2009 Nov 1;10(6):623-35.

    ObjectiveTo develop a computer screen-based simulator that may be used as a pediatric advanced life support (PALS) cognitive skill assessment tool and to pilot test a consensus-based scoring system for the simulator.DesignDevelopment of an evaluation tool, followed by prospective, observational study of tool performance.SettingTertiary care pediatric hospital.SubjectsA total of 100 PALS providers from multiple disciplines.InterventionsUsing a consensus process with a group of six experts in pediatric emergency and critical care medicine, we developed scoring algorithms to measure performance on four interactive PALS scenarios (supraventricular tachycardia, pulseless electrical activity, ventricular fibrillation, and bradycardia). PALS providers (n = 100) completed the scenarios on the simulator and the computer assessed their performance using the scoring algorithm.Measurements And Main ResultsCase management scoring audits agreed 100% with computer scoring during pilot testing, indicating excellent reliability. The mean time to complete all four cases was 13.8 mins. Performance scores were highest for supraventricular tachycardia management and lowest for pulseless electrical activity management. Survival was significantly more common than death in the supraventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation scenarios, whereas death was more common in the pulseless electrical activity scenario (p < .004). Physician status predicted a higher aggregate score as well as higher scores in the supraventricular tachycardia (p < .001), pulseless electrical activity (p = .041), and bradycardia (p = .006) scenarios. Participants who completed the PALS course on the same day as their assessment scored higher on the supraventricular tachycardia scenario (p = .041).ConclusionsPersonal computer-based simulation can be used to evaluate performance against consensus criteria in a large number of PALS providers. This technology could supplement traditional curricula by facilitating frequent knowledge assessments as part of a PALS competency maintenance regimen.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…