None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia (UGRA) is a complex procedural task that anaesthetists must learn. UGRA has been shown to have greater efficacy and safety than other nerve block localisation techniques and is thus the standard of care for performing peripheral nerve blockade. Task deconstruction reveals that bimanual dexterity, hand-eye coordination and sonographic interpretation are some of the skills necessary for performance of UGRA. There is likely to be a correlation with visuospatial aptitude (defined as the ability to generate, retain and manipulate abstract visual images) and superior performance in UGRA in novices. This study aims to evaluate the importance of visuospatial aptitude on the performance of UGRA in both novices and experts and which domains of visual perception are most closely linked to UGRA performance. We will recruit novices to UGRA and administer a series of psychometric tests on visuospatial ability, to identify individuals with higher and lower skills. All novices will be asked to perform non-invasive, ultrasound scanning of the neck and shoulder of healthy human volunteers and their performance on several metrics (image quality, time, stability, and ability to obtain standard images) will be recorded. Experts in UGRA will tested as well, and they provide a control group against whom the novices will be compared to.
Interventions
This is a prospective observational study of adult novices with no prior exposure to ultrasonography training or teaching. Baseline testing of novices' innate visuospatial ability will be performed using validated assessment tools of visuospatial performance, including components of the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV, the Vanderberg and Kuse Mental Rotations Test, and the Thurston and Jeffrey Flexibility of Closure Test. All of these tests are desktop paper and pencil, or manipulation of w
This is a prospective observational study of adult novices with no prior exposure to ultrasonography training or teaching. Baseline testing of novices' innate visuospatial ability will be performed using validated assessment tools of visuospatial performance, including components of the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV, the Vanderberg and Kuse Mental Rotations Test, and the Thurston and Jeffrey Flexibility of Closure Test. All of these tests are desktop paper and pencil, or manipulation of wooden blocks to construct shapes, and administered by a trained neuropsychologist. After watching a short didactic instruction 15 minute video, novices are next taken to a human volunteer and asked to perform non-invasive ultrasonography of the brachial plexus from neck to axilla. Image quality, smoothness of ultrasound scanning, and ability to obtain standardised images will be assessed using an objective scoring form by Assessors, who are experts in sonography. The assessment of visuospatial ability and scoring of performance will take a weekend.
Sponsors
Department of Anaesthesia, Liverpool Hospital
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
adult volunteers enrolled in health sciences degree in a tertiary educational institution (nursing, medicine, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, medical science) Normal or corrected to normal visual acuity
Exclusion criteria
Prior experience, exposure to ultrasound teaching or training Prior musculoskeletal ultrasound of the neck or shoulder, due to potential bias arising from viewing the technique Radiology students, due to potential bias from learning from other imaging modalities Previous cognitive or psychological testing in the past 12 months, due to potential contamination from performing similar psychometric tests of visuospatial ability
Outcome results
None listed