Cognitive Task Analysis for Assessment and Standardization of Central Venous Catheterization (CVC) Procedures

Abstract

Central venous catheterization (CVC) presents the potential for many adverse events, including infectious and mechanical complications. Cognitive task analysis (CTA) has been shown to be an effective method of gathering information about procedures and their cognitive decision points. To help decrease the incidence of mechanical and infectious complications in CVC, a CTA was conducted using subject matter experts (SMEs), with the aim of creating a procedural and cognitive checklist for use in training. Data collected from one participant was used to create a CTA survey which was distributed to other SMEs. Information collected has been used to create a checklist that includes more procedural steps than found in literature, as well as defining a number of cognitive decision points. This checklist should improve the decision-making capabilities of novices. Future work will refine this checklist for inclusion in a standardized simulation-based CVC training program.