Feasibility and Acceptability of a Structured Curriculum in Teaching Procedural and Basic Diagnostic Ultrasound Skills to Internal Medicine Residents

Abstract

Background Point-of-care ultrasound has emerged as a powerful diagnostic tool and is also being increasingly used by clinicians to guide procedures. Many current and future internists desire training, yet no formal, multiple-application, program-wide teaching interventions have been described. Intervention We describe a structured 30-hour ultrasound training course in diagnostic and procedural ultrasound implemented during intern orientation. Internal medicine interns learned basic ultrasound physics and machine skills; focused cardiac, great vessel, pulmonary, and abdominal ultrasound diagnostic examinations; and procedural applications. Results In postcourse testing, learners demonstrated the ability to acquire images, had significantly increased knowledge scores (P < .001), and demonstrated good performance on practical scenarios designed to test abilities in image acquisition, interpretation, and incorporation into medical decision making. In the postcourse survey, learners strongly agreed (4.6 of 5.0) that ultrasound skills would be valuable during residency and in their careers. Conclusions A structured ultrasound course can increase knowledge and can result in learners who have skills in image acquisition, interpretation, and integration in management. Future work will focus on refining and improving these skills to allow these learners to be entrusted with the use of ultrasound independently for patient care decisions.

Three‐Dimensional Printed Cardiac Models for Focused Cardiac Ultrasound Instruction

“…Similarly, the Society of Hospital Medicine is actively releasing position statements on certification in point‐of‐care ultrasonography and creating a certification program (https://www.hospitalmedicine.org/clinical-topics/ultrasonography-cert/). In response, some internal medicine residency programs have identified the need to train their residents and hence have preemptively developed formal curricula in point‐of‐care ultrasonography . How best to instruct and how often to retrain noncardiologists in FCU remains unclear.…”

“…In response, some internal medicine residency programs have identified the need to train their residents and hence have preemptively developed formal curricula in point-of-care ultrasonography. [3][4][5][6] How best to instruct and how often to retrain noncardiologists in FCU remains unclear.…”

The path to ultrasound proficiency: A systematic review of ultrasound education and training programmes for junior medical practitioners

“…[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Of the excluded papers, five had heterogeneous study groups which included or focused on more senior clinicians, three did not objectively assess the study group post-intervention, and two did not have a practical image acquisition component to the assessments. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Of the excluded papers, five had heterogeneous study groups which included or focused on more senior clinicians, three did not objectively assess the study group post-intervention, and two did not have a practical image acquisition component to the assessments.…”

“…The 25 articles were read in full and ten were excluded with 15 papers in total included in the review. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Of the excluded papers, five had heterogeneous study groups which included or focused on more senior clinicians, three did not objectively assess the study group post-intervention, and two did not have a practical image acquisition component to the assessments. A study flowchart is provided in Figure 1.…”

Pocket-sized Ultrasound for Physical Diagnosis

“…1 While other studies have shown the feasibility of implementing point-of-care ultrasound curricula for internal medicine residents, the trial by Ojeda et al had disappointing results. 2 Several key factors were likely contributory. One major limitation of this trial was that only 1.5 h of didactic and 1.5 h of hands-on training were used in the intervention group.…”