Development and Assessment of an Interactive Training Tool to Help Reduce Error Rate Associated With Shared Infusion Volume Management Tasks

Nurses often do not understand nor consider the presence of shared infusion volume (SIV) in their practice and there are currently no explicit training methods to address this issue. This research aimed to design and assess an effective interactive training tool (ITT) to help improve a clinician’s ability to deal with SIV management. Recommendations from a heuristic evaluation and two cycles of usability testing helped develop an ITT in the form of a computer-based module. A cognitive task analysis elicited knowledge behind the mental model that critical care nurses and anesthesiologists use when delivering intravenous (IV) infusions. In a high-fidelity simulation experiment, participants performed significantly better for both skill/rule-based and knowledge-based SIV tasks after using the ITT intervention in terms of theoretical comprehension and practical performance. Results of this work can help guide the development of ITTs to address medical administration errors in the context of multiple IV infusions.M.H.Sc