A Brief, Just-in-Time Sedation Training in the Pediatric Emergency Department Improves Performance During Adverse Events Encountered in Simulated Procedural Sedations

Background Procedural sedation (PS) is commonly performed in emergency departments (EDs) by nonanesthesiologists. Although adverse events (AEs) are rare, providers must possess the clinical skills to react in a timely manner. We previously described residents' experience and confidence in PS as part of a needs assessment. We found that their ability to perform important clinical tasks as a result of the usual training experience demonstrates educational needs. We developed an educational intervention to address the deficiencies uncovered during our needs assessment. Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention on pediatric residents' clinical performance and confidence when faced with an AE during a simulated PS. Methods This was a prospective observational cohort study of residents at a tertiary care children's hospital. All ED attending physicians and fellows were trained in uniform delivery of the educational intervention, which was delivered extemporaneously at the bedside ("Just-in-Time" [JIT]) to all residents performing PS on actual patients in the pediatric ED, over the course of 1 year. Subjects completed the following both before and after the educational intervention: a survey pertaining to confidence in PS, followed by a standardized, video-recorded simulated PS complicated by apnea and desaturation. Clinical performance was evaluated and assessed both in real time and by a video-rater blinded to participants' year of training. We summarized baseline resident characteristics, confidence questionnaire item rankings and success in both the preparation and AE tasks. We compared successful task completion and time to task completion before and after intervention. Results Forty residents completed both the PRE and POST phases of the study. There was significant improvement in the proportion of residents who completed both preparation and AE tasks after the JIT training. Specifically, there was a significant improvement in the proportion of residents who performed positive-pressure ventilation to treat an apneic event associated with desaturation during the PS (P = 0.007). Residents' confidence scores also significantly improved after the training. Conclusion A brief JIT training in the pediatric ED improves resident clinical performance and confidence when faced with an AE during a simulated PS. Future direction includes correlating this improved performance with patient outcomes in PS.