Learning-curve-based Simulation Training for Bronchoscopic Intubation

Questions remain concerning the optimal duration of simulator training for flexible optical bronchoscopic (FOB) intubation. The investigators' previous study demonstrated that an exponential curve could fit the learning curve of FOB intubation training on a high-fidelity simulator after logarithmical transformation of the procedure time. In brief, trainees could achieve a plateau of the learning curve after several procedures, i.e., further training might provide only negligible progress. According to the investigators' preliminary study, the training time for the majority might be less than one hour which is the dominant duration of simulator training in previous studies. By generating a learning curve from the initial several procedures on a simulator, it is possible to predict when a trainee could grow saturated individually. It is hypothesized that this new learning-curve-based training modality could contribute to non-inferior FOB intubation time in patients compared with the reference fixed-training-time (1 hour) training modality, albeit with less training time. The noninferiority margin is defined according to the reported FOB intubation time and the training effect in previous studies. Moreover, it is plausible that this new training modality might even present a higher success rate and better performance of FOB intubation, considering each trainee following the new training has to achieve the individual goal that precludes an outlier from failing to have enough training that might occur in reference fixed-training-time training.

Inclusion criteria

• anesthesia residents or interns at Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China or Tibet Autonomous Region People's Hospital, Lhasa, Tibet, China;
• have performed less than five FOB intubations in patients;
• consent to this study. -

Exclusion criteria

Those who have received standardized training will be excluded.

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