A Near-peer Point-of-care Ultrasound Elective for Medical Students: Impact on Anatomy Knowledge, Perceptions About Ultrasound, and Self-reported Skill Level

Abstract

Rationale and Objectives: We aimed to assess the impact of our institution's recently created point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) course for preclinical medical students by examining its effect on first-year-level medical knowledge, self-reported skill level, and beliefs regarding the importance of ultrasound in future clinical practice. Materials and Methods:A total of 18 first-year medical students completed a 5-month near-peer-led training program in POCUS consisting of 3-hour teaching sessions (7), 4-hour clinical sessions (10-12), and an independent study. Students completed pre-and postprogram assessments examining (1) student perceptions about ultrasound and its importance to future careers, (2) students' self-reported skill level with ultrasound, and (3) performance on an anatomy and physiology knowledge quiz. Scores and responses were compared to 20 controls. Results:The majority of students believed that ultrasound was useful for learning anatomy and would be important in their future clinical practice. Students who completed our training program tended to perform better than controls on a test of medical knowledge. Despite reporting far fewer hours of formal ultrasound training, control students rated their skill level comparably to POCUS-trained students.Conclusions: This study provides evidence that ultrasound is well received by medical students and may be useful for teaching basic anatomy concepts.

Medical Student Ultrasound Education: A WFUMB Position Paper, Part I

“…Similar initiatives were later introduced at other German-speaking medical schools. Peer teaching offers opportunities to involve highly motivated trainees and should be guided by faculty to guarantee high-quality instruction (DesJardin et al 2017).…”

Teaching Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Medicine

“…Fourteen studies employed POCUS to teach anatomy or physiology. [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59] Nine studies revealed improved anatomy and physiology knowledge after POCUS teaching. 46,[50][51][52][53][55][56][57][58] Four studies only looked at subjective measures such as learner satisfaction and confidence.…”

Peer-Led Point-of-Care Ultrasound; A Potential Ally to Rural Medicine

“…Secondly, survey respondents RESEARCH reported that they felt the trainers were highly competent in POCUS. This has been a topic of increasing interest in the medical community over the last five years (8,24). It has been shown that medical students are able to retain knowledge learned in POCUS workshops longitudinally (24), which supports the conclusion that these students will have the knowledge base required to teach others.…”

“…Areas for improvement Inadequate preparatory material 1 "I felt I would have learned better with more preparatory material" seven studies (8,(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15) which revealed that the majority of designs consisted of clerkship (near-peer) students teaching pre-clerkship students. To our knowledge, studies evaluating pre-clerkship students teaching POCUS to other pre-clerkship students are very limited.…”