The Child Induction Behavioral Assessment Tool: A Tool to Facilitate the Electronic Documentation of Behavioral Responses to Anesthesia Inductions.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop and implement an electronic tool for documenting pediatric patients' behavioral responses to anesthesia induction. DESIGN: Quality improvement methodology was used in the tool development and implementation. METHODS: The Child Induction Behavioral Assessment (CIBA) tool was developed based upon existing validated tools and through discussions with content experts and key stakeholders. Staff usage of the tool was monitored and the clinical utility of the tool was assessed. FINDINGS: The CIBA tool facilitated frequent documentation of behavioral responses to inductions. The majority of clinicians reported that they found the prior CIBA ratings useful when developing induction plans for returning patients. CONCLUSIONS: Electronic documentation using the CIBA tool may provide useful information for optimizing induction plans for returning patients. Future research is needed to directly test the CIBA tool's validity.

Teaching differential diagnosis to nurse practitioner students in a distance program.

An interactive case study (ICS) is a novel way to enhance the teaching of differential diagnosis to distance learning nurse practitioner students. Distance education renders the use of many teaching strategies commonly used with face-to-face students difficult, if not impossible. To meet this new pedagogical dilemma and to provide excellence in education, the ICS was developed. Kolb's theory of experiential learning supported efforts to follow the utilization of the ICS. This study sought to determine whether learning outcomes for the distance learning students were equivalent to those of on-campus students who engaged in a live-patient encounter. Accuracy of differential diagnosis lists generated by onsite and online students was compared. Equivalency testing assessed clinical, rather than only statistical, significance in data from 291 students. The ICS responses from the distance learning and onsite students differed by 4.9%, which was within the a priori equivalence estimate of 10%. Narrative data supported the findings.