Mental Imagery to Enhance Procedural Skills in Peripheral Venous Catheterization

Peripheral venous catheter insertion has a slow learning curve, and is rarely performed by medical students. Most medical interns do not master this procedure independently at the start of their residency.

It's a painful procedure for the patients, and therefore unsuitable for "in vivo" training at the patient's bedside For this type of procedure, it would appear necessary to develop alternative teaching methods, as well as pedagogical tools that can modify the learning curve to make it faster.

Mental imagery is a technique that involves creating vivid, detailed mental images in the mind. It is often used in a variety of contexts, such as mental preparation, stress management, learning or goal achievement Initially used in mental preparation for sports, it made its appearance as a pedagogical tool in the medical field in the 2010s, with several studies demonstrating its value in learning procedural gestures (training in laparoscopic surgery, cystoscopy).

The aim of our study is to investigate the impact of a mental imagery session on peripheral venous catheter placement success in 5th-year medical students, on a simulation mannequin.