The development of a validated checklist for adult lumbar puncture: preliminary results

Lumbar puncture (LP) is known to result in complications. Procedure skills should be taught and evaluated more effectively to improve health care quality. Validated checklists are central to teaching and assessing procedural skills. The results of the first step of the validation of an adult LP checklist are described. A comprehensive literature review of articles published on LP did not yield a checklist validated by the Delphi method. A modified Delphi technique, involving a panel of 9 experts, was used to develop a 20-item LP checklist for teaching and assessing LP, the first step in the validation process. The internal consistency coefficient using Cronbach's α was 0.79. The authors used a modified Delphi method to develop a checklist for teaching and assessing LP. For this checklist to become further validated, it should be implemented and studied in the simulation and clinical environments.