Development and Validation of an Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skill (OSATS) Tool for Basic Optical...

Area of Science:

• Anesthesiology
• Medical Education
• Airway Management

Background:

• Optical stylets are crucial for managing difficult airways in ENT surgeries.
• A need exists for a standardized assessment tool for optical stylet intubation.
• Current methods lack objective evaluation of technical proficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skill (OSATS) tool.
• To evaluate the reliability and validity of the OSATS tool for optical stylet tracheal intubation.
• To provide a standardized method for assessing anesthesiologists' skills with optical stylets.

Main Methods:

• An OSATS tool was developed and applied to 30 anesthesiologists with varying experience levels (novice, intermediate, expert).
• Participants performed optical stylet intubation on patients with normal airways.
• Video recordings were used to assess internal consistency, intrarater/interrater reliability, and construct validity via known-groups comparison.

Main Results:

• The OSATS tool exhibited high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.92).
• Excellent intrarater (ICC=0.97) and interrater (ICC=0.94) reliability was observed.
• Significant score differences across novice, intermediate, and expert groups confirmed construct validity (P < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• The developed OSATS tool is reliable and valid for assessing basic optical stylet intubation skills.
• The tool can effectively differentiate between varying levels of anesthesiologist expertise.
• This scoring tool can serve as a valuable formative assessment for anesthesiology trainees.