Bronchoscopy Assessment Tools©

Bronchoscopy Assessment Tools© is a collection of written forms that includes:

  • A set of instruments used to assess a student's technical skill while performing flexible bronchoscopy
  • Downloadable PDF files of each testing tool with scoring instructions

The rational for using written instruments to objectively measure bronchoscopic skill is that, until now, evaluation of technical skill has been based on subjective assessment, history of participating in a subspecialty training program, and documentation of having performed a certain number of procedures (often at least 50).

Objective evaluation, on the other hand, is similar to measuring a person's ability to drive and park an automobile:

  • Posture and hand position
  • Ability to maneuver the bronchoscope in the airways
  • Ability to accurately identify tracheobronchial anatomy
  • Ability to enter all bronchial segments

Validation studies are currently in progress at the University of California , Irvine where these tools are being used to assess learner's skill

  • In virtual reality bronchoscopy simulators
  • In clinical practice

If you would like to use these tools in a training program or for research purposes, please feel free to do so. In case of publication or presentations, we would appreciate it if you would cite these as follows:

Bronchoscopy International: Bronchoscopy Assessment Tools, an Electronic On-Line Multimedia Slide Presentation. www.Bronchoscopy.org/Bronchoscopy Assessment Tools/htm . Published 2005 (Please add "Date Accessed").

To learn more about Bronchoscopy Assessment Tools© please watch the presentation What is Bronchoscopy Assessment Tools©. We welcome your comments.