Abbas Jonathan R, Younis Noorulanne, Johnstone Emily, Rajai Azita, Isba Rachel, Payton Antony, McGrath Brendan A, Tolley Neil, Bruce Iain A
Division of Immunology, Immunity to Infection, and Respiratory Medicine, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.
Department of Paediatric ENT, Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Manchester University Foundation Trust, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9WL, UK.
BMC Surg. 2025 Jan 15;25(1):25. doi: 10.1186/s12893-024-02736-1.
The insertion of a tracheostomy is an established technique used to wean patients off ventilatory support, manage secretions in complex conditions, and as a potentially life-saving procedure to bypass upper airway obstruction. Life-threatening complications during aftercare are not uncommon and may be influenced by a lack of education of carers or healthcare providers of children and young people living with a tracheostomy. Education programmes designed and supported by the National Tracheostomy Safety Project are effective, but resources are not available to educate the workforce at scale. With the overarching aim of widening access to paediatric tracheostomy skills training, we present the protocol for the development and evaluation of a novel virtual reality (VR) training tool designed to simulate the emergency management of paediatric tracheostomy complications.
A multi-centre, non-inferiority educational interventional study with historical controls will be used to evaluate the novel VR training package. A group of 69 healthcare staff and students will have one week to use the educational intervention as often as necessary to learn paediatric emergency tracheostomy skills. The primary outcome measure is skill performance in simulation in a pre- and post-intervention structure within subjects. Participant performance will also be assessed using non-inferiority metrics against historical traditional educational control data. Secondary outcomes include knowledge gain, knowledge retention, usability, side effects, and participant satisfaction. To minimise the risk of cybersickness, teleportation was the preferred locomotion method for the user navigation within the VR environment.
Full registration of this study was completed at ClinicalTrials.gov. The registration number is NCT06350708 and was accepted on the 4th April 2024.
气管造口术的插入是一种既定技术，用于使患者脱离通气支持、处理复杂情况下的分泌物，以及作为绕过上呼吸道梗阻的潜在救命程序。术后护理期间的危及生命的并发症并不罕见，可能受到对患有气管造口术的儿童和年轻人的护理人员或医疗保健提供者缺乏教育的影响。由国家气管造口术安全项目设计和支持的教育项目是有效的，但没有资源大规模培训工作人员。为了实现扩大获得儿科气管造口术技能培训机会的总体目标，我们提出了一种新型虚拟现实（VR）培训工具的开发和评估方案，该工具旨在模拟儿科气管造口术并发症的紧急处理。
将采用一项有历史对照的多中心、非劣效性教育干预研究来评估新型VR培训包。一组69名医护人员和学生将有一周时间根据需要尽可能频繁地使用教育干预措施来学习儿科紧急气管造口术技能。主要结局指标是受试者在干预前和干预后的模拟中的技能表现。还将使用非劣效性指标对照历史传统教育对照数据评估参与者的表现。次要结局包括知识获取、知识保留、可用性、副作用和参与者满意度。为了将晕动病的风险降至最低，传送是VR环境中用户导航的首选移动方法。
本研究已在ClinicalTrials.gov上完成全面注册。注册号为NCT06350708，于2024年4月4日被接受。
