The Utility of Cardiac Ultrasound in Pre-Clinical Medical School Curriculum (original) (raw)
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BMC Medical Education
Background: Teaching cardiac ultrasound to medical students in a brief course is a challenge. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility of teaching large groups of medical students the acquisition and interpretation of cardiac ultrasound images using a pocket ultrasound device (PUD) in a short, specially designed course. Methods: Thirty-one medical students in their first clinical year participated in the study. All were novices in the use of cardiac ultrasound. The training consisted of 4 hours of frontal lectures and 4 hours of hands-on training. Students were encouraged to use PUD for individual practice. Finally, the students' proficiency in the acquisition of ultrasound images and their ability to recognize normal and pathological states were evaluated.
Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, 2014
Background: Handheld ultrasound is emerging as an important tool for point-of-care cardiac assessment. Although cardiac ultrasound skills are traditionally introduced during postgraduate training, the optimal time and methodology to initiate training in focused cardiac ultrasound (FCU) are unknown. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a novel curriculum for training medical students in the use of FCU. Methods: The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, 12 first-year medical students underwent FCU training over an 8-week period. In the second phase, 45 third-year medical students were randomized to one of three educational programs. Program 1 consisted of a lecture-based approach with scan training by a sonographer. Program 2 coupled electronic education modules with sonographer scan training. Program 3 was fully self-directed, combining electronic modules with scan training on a high-fidelity ultrasound simulator. Image interpretation skills and scanning technique were evaluated after each program. Results: First-year medical students were able to modestly improve interpretation ability and acquire limited scanning skills. Third-year medical students exhibited similar improvement in mean examination score for image interpretation whether a lecture-based program or electronic modules was used. Students in the selfdirected group using an ultrasound simulator had significantly lower mean quality scores than students taught by sonographers. Conclusions: Third-year medical students were able to acquire FCU image acquisition and interpretation skills after a novel training program. Self-directed electronic modules are effective for teaching introductory FCU interpretation skills, while expert-guided training is important for developing scanning technique.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022
The present study aimed to evaluate the students’ progress in evaluating ultrasound (US) and cadaveric cardiac images and long-time retention of information. First-year medical students were invited to participate in four two-hour online lectures during one week voluntarily. The students were trained to recognize cardiovascular anatomical structures on US and cadaveric images during the intervention. The participants’ abilities to identify specific anatomical structures were tested before, immediately after and six months after the training. A group of second-year students without US training participated as a control group and filled the same test once. Ninety-one first-year students agreed to participate, and forty-nine completed all three tests. The performances in the correct identification of cardiovascular structures on the US images significantly improved after the training but significantly decreased after six months. In the intervention group, the accurate identification of...
Ultrasound and cadavers are both recognized teaching modalities for the delivery of cardiac anatomy to undergraduate medical students. This study considers the additive effect of the two teaching modalities. We previously reported no significant difference in cardiac anatomy knowledge when taught using either ultrasound echocardiography or cadaveric prosections, both modalities significantly increasing knowledge from baseline. This study considers the cross-over effect with the ultrasound group receiving anatomy teaching with cadavers and vice versa. The results of this study show a small increase in knowledge after experiencing two modalities, but this increase was not significant. Furthermore, the order in which students received their tuition also made no significant difference. These data suggests there is no additive effect of combining cadaveric prosections with ultrasound. This has implications for curriculum design. However, these findings do not consider the hidden learning and learning experiences students will receive by two vastly different teaching modalities.
The Role of Ultrasound in teaching Clinical Anatomy to First year Medical Students
Introduction: Undergraduate medical education training has recently shifted towards making content relevant and applicable for future clinical practice. However, students often encounter difficulties in visualizing the functional living human and apply clinically relevant anatomy content. Hence, the aim of this study is to evaluate the role and efficacy of ultrasound in teaching clinical anatomy to first year medical students. Methods: 300 Year 1 students took part in the practical sessions either using ultrasound mannequins or volunteer. All students were given a specially designed pre-test and post-test using Katz’s Percentage to assess their level of ultrasound knowledge. A feedback survey was sought from the students and anatomists after the programme. Results: The results were analyzed based on the 100 students who have taken both pre- and post-tests. The study showed that there was statistical significant difference on normal US images of abdominal organs knowledge before and after the intervention. About 98% of students would like the continuation of this programme into the clinical years. Tutor’s perception survey also revealed positive results particularly the interdepartmental collaboration. Conclusion: An ultrasound programme was successfully implemented to complement and enhance the conceptualizing of normal gross anatomy with clinical anatomy for first year medical students. Keywords: Anatomy, Medical Education Research, Ultrasound, Radiology
Peer-teaching cardiac ultrasound among medical students: A real option
PLOS ONE
Introduction Teaching 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. Methods Sixty-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. Results The 6-minute test final grade displayed superiority of group A over group B (54±17 vs. 39
Medical Science Educator, 2015
Understanding of cardiac electrophysiology and the ability to interpret an electrocardiogram require a robust skill set and present a significant challenge to medical students. Ultrasound imaging is a valuable tool that can help students to relate organ structure to its function. In the current pilot study conducted in 2014, the effectiveness of ultrasound in teaching cardiac physiology and electrocardiography was tested. An electrocardiography/echocardiography workshop was implemented to enhance teaching of cardiac physiology to first-year medical students to provide better correlation of electrical and mechanical events during the cardiac cycle. The objectives of the current study were to evaluate medical student understanding of electrocardiography while using live ultrasound imaging and determine their ability to identify electrical and subsequent mechanical events during the cardiac cycle after completing the workshop. Student competency in the electrocardiography component of the workshop was evaluated through pre-and post-tests. Student competency in the ultrasound component of the workshop was evaluated through an ultrasound assignment that focused on identifying cardiac structures on the ultrasound image. Results of the preand post-tests revealed significant improvement (P<.05) between the mean pre-test (56 %) and post-test scores (76 %). The majority of students (99 %) successfully completed the ultrasound assignment. Using ultrasound resulted in a marked improvement in student understanding of cardiac electrical and valvular events and ventricular wall motion. Students were able to better correlate electrical activity with cardiac mechanical events, understand cardiac physiology, and develop skills that will indirectly enhance the quality of future patient care.
Benefits of a dedicated ultrasound education for medical students: A 3 year experience
MedEdPublish, 2019
Objective An accelerated ultrasound education curriculum was designed specifically for second-year medical students. Our goal was to effectively measure this teaching methodology and to assess the practicality of this concept. Materials and Methods After analyzing the existing ultrasound training for medical students, improvements were made to the existing curriculum for 2nd-year students that addressed the drawbacks in ultrasound education, including instrumentation, anatomy, and ultrasound-guided procedures. Prior to exposure to ultrasound education, all students participated in an anonymous quiz to determine and document their baseline knowledge. The ultrasound immersion week included; hands-on education and lectures. Students were divided into small groups with radiologists supervising ultrasound skills on standardized patients and intervention using phantom models. After the week-long exposure to radiology and ultrasound, students took a post-exposure assessment to evaluate their knowledge. Efficacy of the program was determined by comparing pre and post-exposure test results. Results Students from Cohort A and B had a 19% improvement, and Cohort C had a 39% improvement. Pre and Post immersion quiz analysis were validated with statistical testing with a p-value <0.01. A thorough analysis of all three years showed significant improvement among medical students. Conclusion The study proved that short, accelerated ultrasound education programs are effective in educating second-year medical students. By the standardized questionnaire, it also demonstrated that there is a significant impact in ultrasound knowledge among students through a week of focused education. Using homemade phantoms promoted
The ultrasound challenge: A novel approach to medical student ultrasound education
Journal of ultrasound in medicine: official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
A Novel Approach to Medical Student Ultrasound Education he development of focused bedside ultrasound has provided a means for nontraditional imaging specialists to answer clinical questions. Focused ultrasound is considered the standard of care in many areas of medicine, including central venous cannulation 1 and trauma resuscitation. 2 Furthermore, ultrasound is becoming more popular in critical care fields to evaluate for global cardiac function, volume responsiveness, and abdominal aortic aneurysm screening and to answer a number of other clinical questions. The importance of ultrasound education in medical school training cannot be overstated. Many programs have developed methods to integrate ultrasound into medical education. 4-6 Medical school graduates are increasingly expected to demonstrate proficiency using ultrasound during residency. As a result, many believe that medical schools have a duty to provide an adequate level of ultrasound education to their students.
A Scoping Review of Ultrasound Teaching in Undergraduate Medical Education
Medical science educator, 2017
Introduction Increasingly, medical schools are integrating Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) into their curricula. This review investigated the available literature on how best to integrate POCUS in the teaching of medical students and the benefits of doing so. Methods Given the heterogeneous literature that has emerged on POCUS education, a scoping review was conducted. Relevant medical databases, including PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE and CINAHL, were searched between January 1980 and August 2016, using keywords identified by the authors. Inclusion criteria were as follows: prospective or retrospective studies, observational or intervention studies, and studies describing how medical students learn to use ultrasound. Results The literature search yielded 593 articles, of which 128 met the inclusion criteria. Studies that met the inclusion criteria were sub-categorised under the following headings: those that described or evaluated an ultrasound curriculum, those that employed ultrasound as a means of teaching another topic in the curriculum (i.e., anatomy, physical examination, physiology, invasive procedures), those that investigated the learning curve of ultrasound education and those that employed adjuncts or peer mentoring to teach ultrasound. Conclusions The reviewed literature indicates that the integration of ultrasound in undergraduate medical education is both feasible and beneficial to medical students. This article is intended to inform medical educators aiming to integrate ultrasound into their medical school curricula.