• Ithan D Peltan, Takashi Shiga, James A Gordon, and Paul F Currier.
• From the Department of Medicine (I.D.P., P.F.C.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA; Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine (I.D.P.), University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA; Division of Medical Simulation (T.S., J.A.G.), Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA; Department of Emergency Medicine (T.S.), Tokyo Bay Urayasu Ichikawa Medical Center, Chiba, Japan; MGH Learning Laboratory (J.A.G.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA; and Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine (P.F.C.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.
• Simul Healthc. 2015 Oct 1; 10 (5): 270-6.

BackgroundSimulation training may improve proficiency at and reduce complications from central venous catheter (CVC) placement, but the scope of simulation's effect remains unclear. This randomized controlled trial evaluated the effects of a pragmatic CVC simulation program on procedural protocol adherence, technical skill, and patient outcomes.MethodsInternal medicine interns were randomized to standard training for CVC insertion or standard training plus simulation-based mastery training. Standard training involved a lecture, a video-based online module, and instruction by the supervising physician during actual CVC insertions. Intervention-group subjects additionally underwent supervised training on a venous access simulator until they demonstrated procedural competence. Raters evaluated interns' performance during internal jugular CVC placement on actual patients in the medical intensive care unit. Generalized estimating equations were used to account for outcome clustering within trainees.ResultsWe observed 52 interns placing 87 CVCs. Simulation-trained interns exhibited better adherence to prescribed procedural technique than interns who received only standard training (P = 0.024). There were no significant differences detected in first-attempt or overall cannulation success rates, mean needle passes, global assessment scores, or complication rates.ConclusionsSimulation training added to standard training improved protocol adherence during CVC insertion by novice practitioners. This study may have been too small to detect meaningful differences in venous cannulation proficiency and other clinical outcomes, highlighting the difficulty of patient-centered simulation research in settings where poor outcomes are rare. For high-performing systems, where protocol deviations may provide an important proxy for rare procedural complications, simulation may improve CVC insertion quality and safety.

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