An educational video improves technique in performance of pediatric lumbar punctures

Unsuccessful or traumatic lumbar punctures (LPs) occur commonly and contribute to patient discomfort and to challenges in medical decision making in the pediatric emergency department (ED).

We produced an instructional video demonstrating the best practices in pediatric LP technique. We hypothesized that the performance of LPs would change and the rate of successful LPs would increase after watching the video.

This was a prospective study of LPs performed in an urban, academic pediatric ED before and after an educational intervention. Lumbar punctures performed during year 1 constituted the control arm. During year 2, all medical practitioners working in the ED watched the instructional video, and this constituted the interventional arm. The practitioner performing the LP completed a standardized data collection form after each LP procedure, and medical records were reviewed.

Data forms were collected on 668 LPs during the study period, 391 during year 1 and 277 during year 2. There was neither a significant change in overall LP success rate between the 2 years (56.8% year 1 vs 53.4% year 2) nor a significant difference in median number of LP attempts required per patient (P = 0.78). Seventy-eight percent of participants who viewed the LP video during year 2 stated that the video helped increase their comfort level with performing LPs. The odds of using the techniques endorsed in the educational video were significantly higher during year 2 compared to year 1 for use of local anesthetic, early stylet removal, and vertical patient position.

The video increased practitioners' comfort level with the performance of pediatric LPs and adherence to evidence-based best practices. It was not associated with an increased rate of successful LPs.