S. Zarich et al., Failure of a brief educational program to improve interpretation of pulmonary artery occlusion pressure tracings, INTEN CAR M, 26(6), 2000, pp. 698-703
Objective: To determine whether a brief educational program can reduce vari
ability of interpretation of pulmonary artery occlusion pressure (PAOP) tra
cings.
Design: Prospective, observational study.
Participants: Twenty-three intensive care nurses and 18 physicians.
Interventions. Participants interpreted PAOP tracings before and 1 week aft
er receiving a single, brief educational session and/or written materials (
"in-service") designed to reduce interobserver variability of PAOP interpre
tation. Differences between two reference values before and after in-servic
e (mean population and Chief of Critical Care's readings) were compared for
both groups.
Results: There were no significant differences in the variabilities in PAOP
interpretations before and after in-service in either group.
Conclusions: We conclude that this specific educational program was ineffec
tive in reducing variability of interpretation of PAOP tracings. These data
suggest that more comprehensive educational tools and/or sustained program
s may be required to improve performance of critical care personnel in PAOP
interpretation.