Lateral Canthotomy Task Trainer in an Educational Small Group for Flight Providers.

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Ophthalmology
• Medical Education

Background:

• Lateral canthotomy is a critical, emergent procedure for orbital compartment syndrome.
• Prehospital flight physicians require specialized training for this vision-preserving intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and assess a multimodal training intervention for flight physicians on lateral canthotomy.
• To improve flight physician knowledge and technical skills in the prehospital context using Ericsson's deliberate practice model.

Main Methods:

• Two cohorts of resident flight physicians participated in a small group, competency-based training.
• A modified low-fidelity task trainer was incorporated into the intervention.
• Pre- and postintervention assessments included self-report and examiner evaluations.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements were observed in knowledge of indications (3.7 to 4.8) and confidence in skills (2.2 to 4.2).
• The majority of participants found the trainer helpful for skill acquisition.
• Examiner-assessed performance improved from 3.2 to 4.7, with most learners showing improvement.

Conclusions:

• A brief, multimodal training program combining didactics and a task trainer is feasible for lateral canthotomy.
• Both self-assessment and objective examiner assessments confirmed enhanced procedural skills for lateral canthotomy.