Peer-teaching cardiac ultrasound among medical students: A real option

Abstract

IntroductionTeaching cardiac ultrasound (CU) image acquisition requires hands-on practice under qualified instructors supervision. We assessed the efficacy of teaching medical students by their previously trained classmates (teaching assistants [TAs]) compared to teaching by expert trainers (cardiologists or diagnostic medical sonographers.MethodsSixty-six students received 8-hour CU training: 4-hour lectures on ultrasound anatomy and imaging techniques of 6 main CU views (parasternal long [PLAV] and short axis [PSAV]; apical 4-chamber [4ch], 2-chamber [2ch], and 3-chamber [3ch]; and sub costal [SC]) followed by 4 hours of hands-on exercise in groups of ≤5 students under direct supervision of a TA (group A: 44 students) or a qualified trainer (group B: 22 students). Students’ proficiency was evaluated on a 6-minute test in which they were required to demonstrate 32 predetermined anatomic landmarks spread across the 6 views and ranked on a 0–100 scale according to a predetermined key.ResultsThe 6-minute test final grade displayed superiority of group A over group B (54±17 vs. 39±21, respectively [p = 0.001]). This trend was continuous across all 6 main views: PLAV (69±18 vs. 54±23, respectively), PSAV (65±33 vs. 41±32, respectively), 4ch (57±19 vs. 43±26, respectively), 2ch (37±29 vs. 33±27, respectively), 3ch (48±23 vs. 35±25, respectively), and SC (36±27 vs. 24±28, respectively).ConclusionsTeaching medical students CU imaging acquisition by qualified classmates is feasible. Moreover, students instructors were superior to senior instructors when comparing their students' capabilities in a practical test. Replacing experienced instructors with TAs could help medical schools teach ultrasound techniques with minimal dependence on highly qualified trainers.

Recognition of emerging cardiac diagnoses by echocardiography in 5th-year medical students — the role of focused e-learning

“…Students from the post-course group achieved a higher total score (10 [6-12] vs. 5 [3][4][5][6][7][8]; P = 0.001) respectively, image score (5 [4-6] vs. 2 [1][2][3][4]; P = 0.001) and description score (5 [2-6] vs. 2 [2][3][4]; P = 0.01) than the control group. As few as 5 (20%) students from the control group reached >56% of points (9 or more points) of correct answers, whereas in the experimental group it was 14 (56%) students (P = 0.008).…”

“…The role of echocardiography in emergency departments has been recently acknowledged [2,3]. Therefore, providing future physicians with skills on how to acquire and interpret cardiac-echo data is becoming highly expected in medical curricula [4][5][6]. To meet these expectations the Board of the Faculty of Medicine of the Jagiellonian University Medical College (JUMC), supported by recent literature on online teaching [7][8][9] and by the experience of successful implementation of ECG e-learning [10,11], introduced in 2020/2021 academic year a subject entirely dedicated to this field.…”

Preclerkship Point-of-Care Ultrasound: Image Acquisition and Clinical Transferability

“…Interestingly, a recent study using a 4-h PCCU lecture coupled with a 4-h hands-on session revealed that peer instructors were superior to staff instructors (cardiologists or diagnostic medical sonographers) at teaching the scanning techniques. 45 …”

“…Interestingly, a recent study using a 4-h PCCU lecture coupled with a 4-h hands-on session revealed that peer instructors were superior to staff instructors (cardiologists or diagnostic medical sonographers) at teaching the scanning techniques. 45 Another study evaluating the ability of first year medical students to generate 7 cardiac views after an educational intervention showed that they only acquired limited scanning skills. The educational intervention involved 16 hours of training over 8 weeks.…”

Healer-led vs. clinician-led training to improve personal protective equipment use among traditional healers in South Africa: a randomized controlled trial protocol

“…These in-person training programs are essential to reducing the risk of infection among providers. Recently, peer-led training to improve clinical skills or service delivery has shown equal or greater impact than traditional ‘expert-led’ training programs [ 37 , 38 ]. Peer-led training can increase intrinsic motivation, alleviate health care provider teaching burden, and provide accessible role models for learners [ 39 ].…”