An Assessment Tool and Interactive Simulation for Using Healthcare Personal Protective Equipment

In healthcare, personal protective equipment (PPE) are sometimes misused due to improper skill acquisition or skill decay before clinical practice. Training is often didactic or web-based but it is unclear whether these methods transfer to effective physical performance. There is no standard method to evaluate these competencies and scheduling or space restrictions can limit physical practice. A Delphi survey produced relevant checklist and global rating items for evaluating use of PPE. Principles from skill learning and human-computer interaction were combined with the survey results to develop an interactive computer-based simulation for procedural practice of these skills. The assessment tool differentiated between experienced and newly-trained users and demonstrated inter-rater reliability. Learners rated their satisfaction with the simulation similar to a provincial online tutorial and pilot studies with the simulation demonstrated that learners practiced for a longer period when using the simulation as compared to the provincial online tutorial.MAS