A hierarchical task analysis of cricothyroidotomy procedure for a virtual airway skills trainer simulator

• We conducted a hierarchical task analysis for cricothyroidotomy procedure.
• Five main steps with substeps are defined along for the procedure.
• Learning objectives and rubric for task performance assessment are derived.
• Video analysis indicated strong relation between time and scores for 3 tasks.

BackgroundDespite the critical importance of cricothyroidotomy (CCT) for patient in extremis, clinical experience with CCT is infrequent, and current training tools are inadequate. The long-term goal is to develop a virtual airway skills trainer that requires a thorough task analysis to determine the critical procedural steps, learning metrics, and parameters for assessment.MethodsHierarchical task analysis is performed to describe major tasks and subtasks for CCT. A rubric for performance scoring for each task was derived, and possible operative errors were identified.ResultsTime series analyses for 7 CCT videos were performed with 3 different observers. According to Pearson's correlation tests, 3 of the 7 major tasks had a strong correlation between their task times and performance scores.ConclusionsThe task analysis forms the core of a proposed virtual CCT simulator, and highlights links between performance time and accuracy when teaching individual surgical steps of the procedure.