Exploration of Evaluation Index for Obstetric Anesthesiologists Training in China Using Modified Delphi Method, Experiences From Pilot Project of PKUHSC

Background: With the gruadual liberation of fertility policy and the increased number of pregnant women at high-risk in China, a large number of obstetric anesthesiologists (OA) with competency were urgently demanded. In order to establish a replicable and standardized training system for OA specialists, Peking University Health Science Center, one of the first ratified specialists training centers in China, initiated this explorative project. As this is a continuous improving process, the final evaluation index has not been formulated. MethodA working group was set up to devise survey instrument and the initial index draft. We initiated a nation-wide questionnaire pooling opinions of 40 experts from Youth committee of China Anesthesiology Association to construct the evaluation index based on modified Delphi method to reach a consensus. Experts’ demographic information, enthusiasm, authority, and agreement consensus were surgeyed. The final evaluation index would be constructed based on experts’ opinion.ResultsData were collected and analyzed for stability of the experts’ enthusiasm (97.5% and 87.2%, respectively), authority (0.91 ± 0.07 and 0.90 ± 0.13 for the respective two rounds), and agreement consensus (16.7% and 1.3% respectively; Kendall coefficient were 0.26 p = 0.415 and 0.147 p = 0.000, respectively). After two rounds of the survey, the evaluation standard was achieved with 2 items deleted, 5 items added, and 11 major revisions according to experts’ opinion. Revisions mainly focused on clinical practical ability (72%) and the research ability (28%).ConclusionThe final evaluation index was constructed consisting 3 categories (practice ability, non-technical skills, and teaching and research capabilities) with 5 primary and 14 secondary evaluation standards which further divided into 51 items. We hope it could be widely adopted as a standardized evaluation reference for obstetric anesthesiologists training.