Enhancement of the technical and non-technical skills of nurse anesthesia students using the Anesthetic List Management Assessment Tool in Iran: a quasi-experimental study

PURPOSE: This study investigated the effect of evaluations based on the Anesthetic List Management Assessment Tool (ALMAT) form on improving the technical and non-technical skills of final-year nurse anesthesia students at Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (AJUMS). METHODS: This was a semi-experimental study with a pre-test and post-test design. It included 45 final-year nurse anesthesia students of AJUMS and lasted for 3 months. The technical and non-technical skills of the intervention group were assessed at 4 university hospitals using formative-feedback evaluation based on the ALMAT form, from induction of anesthesia until reaching mastery and independence. Finally, the students’ degree of improvement in technical and non-technical skills was compared between the intervention and control groups. Statistical tests (the independent t-test, paired t-test, and Mann-Whitney test) were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The rate of improvement in post-test scores of technical skills was significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group (P˂0.0001). Similarly, the students in the intervention group received significantly higher post-test scores for non-technical skills than the students in the control group (P˂0.0001). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study showed that the use of ALMAT as a formative-feedback evaluation method to evaluate technical and non-technical skills had a significant effect on improving these skills and was effective in helping students learn and reach mastery and independence.