• Anneke J A H van Vught, Geert T W J van den Brink, Murielle G E C Hilkens, and Jos A H van Oers.
• Faculty of Health, Behavior and Society, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Postbus 6960, Nijmegen, HG, 6503, Netherlands.
• J Eval Clin Pract. 2018 Jun 1; 24 (3): 580-584.

Rationale, Aims, And ObjectivesSince adequate staffing in intensive care units (ICUs) is an increasing problem worldwide, we investigated whether physician assistants (PAs) are able to substitute medical residents (MR) in ICUs with at least the same quality of clinical skills. In this study, we analysed the level of clinical skills of PAs in direct comparison with those who traditionally performed these tasks, ie, MR with 6 to 24 months of work experience in the ICU.MethodPhysician assistants and MRs in the ICUs were observed on their clinical skills by means of a simulated ICU comprising 2 scenarios on a human patient simulator with typical ICU cases. The level of clinical skills of PAs and MRs was videotaped and scored with predefined checklists by 2 independent intensivists per scenario. Percentage of the total score was calculated, and means were compared by Student t test.ResultsA total of 11 PAs and 10 MRs participated in the study. Physician assistants and MRs scored equal (PA 66% ± 13% vs MR 68% ± 9%, P = .86) on their clinical performance in the simulated ICU setting.ConclusionThis study showed equal performance of PAs and MRs on clinical skills in the simulated ICU setting.© 2018 The Authors Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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