Psychometrics and naturalization of nontechnical skills assessment tools in anesthesiology technologist bachelor...

Patient safety has become a major area of concern as studies have reported the role of human error in adverse events. To reduce errors and adverse events, human factors target individual or team nontechnical skills (NTS), which can improve patient safety. Several different assessment tools established for observing and rating NTS as the scope of nurse anesthesia work vary in different countries. Assessing NTS specifically for anesthesia technologists was not considered in Iran. The aim of this study was to find a naturalization and psychometrics nontechnical skills assessment tool for Bachelor of Science in Anesthesia students.

This study was conducted with a descriptive method. Investigation databases resulted in selecting an appropriate NTS assessment tool based on anesthesia technologists' domain of work in Iran. Permission to use the tool was obtained from the first author of the article published the tool. Forward-backward translation was applied, and the Persian version was psychometrically evaluated using a questionnaire by an expert panel of 20 anesthesiologists. To determine reliability, videos were recorded in a practice room to show different NTS. Twenty-two anesthesia mentors were selected via available sampling. Simulation videos were provided to the raters with an Internet link to rate the videos. Ratings were repeated after a 10-day interval. Data were gathered and analyzed using intraclass correlation and Cronbach's alpha by SPSS v27.

The impact score, explicitness, and transparency were measured to determine face validity. The impact score of items varied in the range of 4.3-5. Minimum explicitness and transparency were related to "making use of resources" and "identifying options", respectively. Content validity was measured by content validity index and content validity ratio. The content validity ratio of items was in the range of 0.7-1; therefore, no items were removed from the tool. All items reached a content validity index score greater than 0.7. The minimum value for content validity index was for "making use of resources" and "Assessing roles and competencies". Cronbach's α value varies from 0.285 for task management to 0.959 for team work in different videos. The intraclass correlation of all videos surprisingly was more than 0.75 and significantly high (P-value < 0.05).

This study aimed to assess naturalization and psychometrics to assess NTS in anesthesiology technologist bachelor students parallel to international societies. The results of this study were compatible with similar studies. All NTS assessment tool developers emphasize training raters to familiarize with the topic and application of tools, which was done by virtual instruction in this study. Very good reliability values may be affected by this major difference. Future studies are suggested to calculate accuracy and usability in the real clinical environment.