Abstract
Objective: We developed a suctioning catheter control sensing device given the increasing demand for skilled home-based healthcare techniques, such as tracheal suctioning. This study evaluated the proficiency of the entire tracheal suctioning process between expert and novice groups via the suctioning catheter control sensing device and a motion capture system. Our hypothesis is that motion capture can measure the proficiency of tracheal suctioning despite the biological reactions of the simulator and the characteristics of participants. Methods: Nine expert nurses, each with more than three years of clinical experience in tracheal suctioning, and 13 nursing students from an urban university nursing department participated. The performance time, pelvic forward bending angle, travel distance, posing time, posing frequency of bilateral dorsum manus, and suctioning catheter control between the two groups with/without simulated biological reactions were analyzed. Results: The two-way analysis of variance demonstrated that the biological reactions (or lack thereof) and the proficiency level did not interact. The main effect of performance time, posing time, and posing frequency was statistically significant; experts performed tracheal suctioning more expeditiously and skillfully. The sensing device could detect hesitance or rough catheter control. Conclusions: Our results indicated that performance time, posing time, and posing frequency could serve as proficiency criteria with/out biological reactions. Additional studies are required to establish a quantitative education evaluation method to determine clinically reliable proficiency levels of tracheal suctioning.
