Development and Testing of a Short Peripheral Intravenous Catheter Insertion Skills Checklist

To date, there is no published, psychometrically validated, short peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC) insertion skills checklist. Creating a valid, reliable, and generalizable checklist to measure PIVC skill is a key step in assessing baseline competence and skill mastery. Based on recognized standards and best practices, the PIVC Insertion Skills Checklist was developed to measure all the steps necessary for a best practice PIVC insertion. This includes the entire process from reading the prescriber's orders to documentation and, if the first attempt is unsuccessful, a second attempt option. Content validity was established using 3 infusion therapy experts. Evidence in support of response process validity is described. The PIVC Insertion Skills Checklist was used by 8 trained raters to assess the PIVC insertion skills, in a simulated environment, of 63 practicing clinicians working on medical and surgical units in a US teaching hospital. Internal consistency of the PIVC Insertion Skills Checklist was α = 0.84. Individual item intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) between rater and gold standard observations ranged from −0.01 to 1.00 and total score ICC was 0.99 (95% confidence interval, 0.99-0.99). The current study offers validity and reliability evidence to support the use of the PIVC Insertion Skills Checklist to measure PIVC insertion skill of clinicians in a simulated environment.