Addressing Challenges in Peripheral Intravenous Catheter Education

The proposed project focuses on creating a modular simulator for venipuncture, peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC), and injection training that accurately represents the US healthcare system. Significance: While simplistic IV skill trainers have existed for decades and shown positive results in improving learning, they typically only simulate healthy adult arms and hands. They currently fail to simulate the wide variety of patients seen in hospitals, excluding many challenging, but common cases. Specific practices vary depending on the patient. For instance, venipuncture difficulty is exacerbated in obese, dark-skinned, or tattooed patients where locating a vein is hard, as well as in pediatric and geriatric populations where the veins are often small and weak. Practitioner knowledge and skill deficits are one of the main factors cited as contributing to complications. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the creation of a comprehensive simulation platform that accurately reflects patients and associated challenges can address this unmet need and support enhanced learning interactions thereby increasing knowledge transfer to clinical experience. Specific Aims: In Phase II the following aims are proposed: 1) Define curriculum goals and specifications with steering panel, 2) Design, implement, and test the system to meet goals and specifications, and 3) Evaluate the developed system using end-user and expert feedback.