In patients on mechanical ventilation, the endotracheal aspiration procedure (“operation”) requires temporary disconnection from the ventilator; therefore, the operation needs to be completed skillfully within a short period of time, so as to avoid prolonging the duration of apnea in the patients. In addition, the operation requires a clean environment to prevent possible infections. The Clinical Engineering Department provides a one-time practical training to students in our campus using a simulator. The visual guidance, which may be insufficient because the instructors need to train a large number of students within a limited period of time. Therefore, we attempted to record the motions of the students to improve the efficiency of the instructions. Wrist-wearable motion sensors were used for the recording. Preliminary observations were conducted with measures of acceleration and images. The images were used to establish the time needed for each step of the operation procedure, and each period was separately observed. Furthermore, the volume of the aspirated sputum was also measured. The results showed significant differences between the skilled and unskilled operators in the volume of aspirated sputum, in the derivative of the low-frequency component of right-hand acceleration during the preparation, and in the power from 3 to 5 Hz upon tube insertion.
