The Imperial Paediatric Emergency Training Toolkit (IPETT) for use in paediatric emergency training: Development and evaluation of feasibility and validity ?

AimTo develop and test the feasibility, reliability, and validity of a practical toolkit for the assessment and feedback of skills required to manage paediatric emergencies in critical care settings.MethodsThe Imperial Paediatric Emergency Training Toolkit (IPETT) was developed based on current evidence-base and expert input. IPETT assesses both technical and non-technical skills. The technical component covers skills in the areas of clinical assessment, airway and breathing, cardiovascular, and drugs. The non-technical component is based on the validated NOTECHS tool and covers communication and interaction, cooperation and team skills, leadership and managerial skills, and decision-making. The reliability (internal consistency), content validity (inter-correlations between different skills) and concurrent validity (correlations between global technical and non-technical scores) of IPETT were prospectively evaluated in 45 simulated paediatric crises carried out in a PICU with anaesthetic and paediatric trainees (N = 52). Non-parametric analyses were carried out. Significance was set at P < 0.05.ResultsCronbach alpha reliability coefficients were overall acceptable for the technical (alpha range = 0.638–0.810) and good for the non-technical (alpha range = 0.701–0.899) component of IPETT. The median inter-skill correlation was rho = 0.564 and rho = 0.549 for the technical and non-technical components, respectively. These indicate good content validity, as the skills were inter-related but not redundant. We also demonstrate a correlation between the global technical and non-technical scores (rho = 0.471) – all Ps < 0.05 during the assessments.ConclusionIPETT offers a psychometrically viable and feasible to use tool in the context of paediatric emergencies training. This study shows that assessment of technical and non-technical skills in combination may offer a more clinically relevant model for training in paediatric emergencies. Further validation should aim to demonstrate skill retention over time and skill transfer from simulation-based training to real emergencies.