The Process of Developing an Assessment Checklist for Simulated Infant Respiratory Distress Using a Modified Delphi...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Simulation-based Learning
• Clinical Skills Assessment

Background:

• Assessing clinical performance in trainees, particularly for critical conditions like infant respiratory distress, presents significant challenges.
• Developing reliable tools for evaluating these skills in simulated environments is crucial for effective medical education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe and evaluate an integrative, iterative approach for developing a checklist to measure simulated clinical performance in managing infant respiratory distress.
• To establish validity and reliability for a new assessment tool.

Main Methods:

• A five-step modified Delphi process with an embedded qualitative component was implemented.
• Validity evidence was gathered throughout the development and implementation phases, including a second qualitative data collection.
• The process involved an iterative refinement of the assessment tool.

Main Results:

• A 19-item assessment checklist for managing infant respiratory distress was successfully developed for medical student learners in a simulation setting.
• The iterative process yielded content validity, and qualitative data supported response process validity.
• High interrater reliability (Cohen kappa = 0.82) was achieved, and the checklist was found to be easy to use and measure intended outcomes.

Conclusions:

• An accurate and reliable assessment checklist for infant respiratory distress management in simulation-based settings was developed for medical students.
• The checklist exhibits high interrater reliability and robust validity evidence.
• The study encourages the use of this method by medical educators for developing and implementing assessment checklists.