An Eye-Tracking Assessment of Coronary Care Nurses during the Interpretation of Patient Monitoring Scenarios

Introduction: It has yet to be determined whether visual attention, measured via eye tracking metrics (ETMs) can be indicative of performance level in coronary care nursing when interpreting patient vitals. Methods: This study captures the visual attention of nurses when interpreting five scenarios using simulated text and vital signs. Baseline performance was marked using detailed criteria and scored 0-10. Self-rated confidence from 1-10 was also collected for each scenario. Cognitive workload was assessed by measuring a participant’s heart rate and post-performance NASA-TLX responses. Eleven coronary care nurses were recruited providing 55 interpretations/observations in total. 45 of which, post data quality filtering, were used to analyse ETMs. Results: Mean performance score = 6.86±1.50 and mean confidence rating = 7.51±1.2. A subset of ETMs significantly correlate with performance across all scenarios. Individual scenarios also provide significant correlations. Three of six regression models were statistically significant with R2 ≥ 0.5. Conclusion: Correlations between specific ETMs and performance have been found across all scenarios and for individual scenarios. Further work is needed to confirm the benefit of ETM in assessing simulation-based training performance.