title: Integrated studies on the use of cognitive task analysis to capture surgical expertise for central venous catheter placement and open cricothyrotomy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cognitive task analysis (CTA) methods were used for 2 surgical procedures to determine (1) the extent that experts omitted critical information, (2) the number of experts required to capture the optimalamount of information, and (3) the effectiveness of a CTA-informed curriculum.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six expert physicians for both the central venous catheter placement and open cricothyrotomy were interviewed. The transcripts were coded, corrected, and aggregated as a "gold standard." The information captured for each surgeon was then analyzed against the gold standard.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Experts omitted an average of 34% of the decisions for the central venous catheter and 77% of the decisions for the Cric. Three to 4 experts were required to capture the optimal amount of information. A significant positive effect on performance (t([21]) = 2.08, P = .050), and self-efficacy ratings (t([18]) = 2.38, P = .029) were found for the CTA-informed curriculum for cricothyrotomy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CTA is an effective method to capture expertise in surgery and a valuable component to improve surgical training.
authors.affiliation: Center for Cognitive Technology, Rossier School of Education and Department of Surgery, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 250 N Harbor Drive, Ste 309, Redondo Beach, CA 90277, USA. kennetay@usc.edu
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yates
authors.forename: Maura
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Clark
mesh_terms: D002405:Catheterization, Central Venous / Q000592:standards*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003071:Cognition; D003413:Cricoid Cartilage / Q000601:surgery*; D003479:Curriculum; D003657:Decision Making; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000601:surgery*