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Validation of a clinical assessment tool for spinal anaesthesia
1Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Cork University Hospital, Ireland. dorothy.breen@hse.ie
Background:
There is a need for a procedure-specific means of assessment of clinical performance in anaesthesia. The aim of this study was to devise a tool for assessing the performance of spinal anaesthesia, which has both content and construct validity.
Methods:
The clinical assessment tool was generated using a focus group discussion of practicing anaesthetists. The tool comprised three components: a checklist of 11 pre-defined errors, two time intervals and a six-item global rating scale (GRS). Thirty-one anaesthetists at three different levels of experience underwent testing using the clinical assessment tool: novice (n=10), intermediate (n=10) and expert (n=11).
Results:
The error checklist and GRS scores but not the time intervals were significantly different between the three groups (P<0.005).
Conclusion:
The error checklist and GRS form the basis for a procedure-specific assessment tool for spinal anaesthesia.
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