Acquisition and maintenance of endoscopic skills: developing an endoscopic dexterity training system for anesthesiologists

The acquisition and maintenance of essential psychomotor skills that are only required sporadically is a significant problem in medical training and practice. It is of particular relevance to anesthesiologists with regard to fiberoptic intubation, a technique that may be under-utilized despite its central role in the management of the difficult airway. Dexterity deficit due to current training models, dexterity decay due to lack of practice, and situational stress related to the clinical environment may combine to impede effective training and confident use of endoscopes in airway management. We describe an educational resource (Dexter™), which has been developed to overcome these problems. Dexter™ is a nonanatomical, endoscopic dexterity training system designed to encourage practice and help establish and maintain a state of procedural readiness, even if clinical exposure to difficult airway situations is sporadic.