The Vital Anaesthesia Simulation Training Facilitation Observation and Rating Method (VAST FORM)

The Vital Anaesthesia Simulation Training Facilitation Observation and Rating Method (VAST FORM) is a 5-part tool developed for health care simulation facilitation assessment with context suitability for low-resource settings. This study sought to build validity evidence for its use.

Study participants facilitated simulation cases, used the VAST FORM to guide discussions on facilitation performance, and evaluated the VAST FORM's practicality, utility for learning, and ease of use. Their facilitation was also assessed by raters using Parts 4 and 5 of the VAST FORM; inter-rater reliability was calculated using intraclass correlations (ICC) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using the 2-way random absolute agreement, ICC2 and ICC2k. The Spearman correlation coefficient was calculated between scores in Parts 4 and 5, and the scores in Parts 4 and 5 were also compared with prior facilitation experience.

Study participants valued the use of the VAST FORM. For Part 4, agreement for the total score was good to excellent overall, total ICC2=0.76, 95% CI=0.42-0.89; ICC2k=0.90, 95% CI=0.68-0.96. Internal consistency was excellent, α=0.95, 95% CI=0.90-0.97. For Part 5, agreement was moderate for individual raters, but good when averaged across all raters (ICC2=0.59, 95% CI=0.42-0.73; ICC2k=0.85, 95% CI=0.74-0.92. The scores for Parts 4 and 5 were strongly correlated ( r =0.91, P <0.00001), as was higher scoring with more facilitation experience.

This study provides evidence supporting the use of VAST FORM. The simulation community now has a contextually informed resource to support simulation faculty development in low-resource settings.