Assessing intravenous cannulation and tracheal intubation training.

Abstract

A simple graphical method is described that allows the assessment of a student's progress while learning intravenous cannulation and tracheal intubation. Thirty-four students were studied during their initial training; 91% of those students who obtained a sufficient number of trials to allow a final assessment to be made met the criterion of 80% success for cannulation and 95% achieved similar success in intubation. Thirty-one ambulance staff who returned for a 3-day refresher course were also assessed; 44% (for intravenous cannulation) and 61% (for tracheal intubation) met the 80% success criterion.