2024 Critical Care Congress Skip to main content
2024 Critical Care Congress Main banner
Back

Research Snapshot Theater: Professional Development and Education, Adult I

(1077) Leveraging Simulation in Neurocritical Care to Establish Effective Curriculum for Airway Management

Tuesday, January 23, 2024
8:45 AM – 9:45 AM MT
Location: Connections Central - RST 09

    First Author(s)

  • Hera Kamdar, MD, (she/her/hers)

    n/a

    • Co-Author(s)

  • DH

    Daniel Harrison, MD

    Neurocritical Care Fellow
    Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurology, Division of Neurocritical Care, United States

  • BM

    Bradley Molyneaux, MD, PhD

    Chief of Critical Care Neurology
    Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurology, Division of Neurocritical Care, United States

  • MB

    Matthew Bevers, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurocritical Care Fellowship Director
    Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurology, Division of Neurocritical Care, United States

Introduction: Simulation-based education (SBE) has become an essential component of standardized medical training, and the growing field of Neurocritical Care (NCC) has garnered a new set of trainees in need for an advanced, and comprehensive curriculum. Given that the majority of NCC trainees are of neurology backgrounds, competency in basic critical care milestones such as airway management, requires a full range of SBE, from basic to advance, to allow for comprehensive learning. However, to date, the impact of simulation in NCC has largely been dedicated to neurologic emergencies. Our aim is to develop and implement a simulation program for airway management for NCC fellows to address this gap and describe how impactful SBE may be amongst NCC trainees and their diverse background of training.

Methods: A mixed-methods implementation approach was used to assess feasibility and utility of this curriculum. First, a SBE course was created with a multidisciplinary team including NCC physicians and the medical educational committee of the Center of Medical Simulation based on the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s core competencies reported on airway management for NCC fellowship and Anesthesiology residency. Then the course was administered to currently enrolled NCC fellows. Each participant was assessed with a pre- and post- self-efficacy questionnaire (SEQ), and a pre- and post- knowledge-based assessment (KBA) to assess the impact of the curriculum.

Results: A total of 10 fellows participated in the SBE course, 90% with an adult neurology background, and 10% with a pediatric neurology background. A significant increase in total SEQ scores was observed amongst participants pre- (55.45 + 21.10) and post- (86.25 + 9.72) course participation (p < 0.001). A significant increase was also observed in the KBA scored percentile pre- (65.10 + 4.60) and post- (79.17 + 6.99) course (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: SBE improves confidence and knowledge in airway management, a basic critical care competency, amongst learners of even limited background training. Future directions include assessing longevity of knowledge and confidence gained amongst learners, directly comparing standardized learning models with SBE, and correlation with patient outcomes.