A Novel Approach to Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Education: One-page Documents with Embedded E-Curriculum

Abstract

Background: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has proven to be a valuable adjunct to the modern physical exam. The gold-standard approach of 1-on-1 learning image acquisition from sonographers and interpretation from clinician-experts is resource intensive, highlighting a need for alternative methods of teaching POCUS.

Methods: This educational project utilized iterative development with the help of established POCUS educators and learner feedback in the form of surveys. Pre- and post- 30-day rotation surveys were administered and collected in Microsoft Forms. The survey questions comprised several categories including interest in learning POCUS, technical skill/image acquisition, and confidence in image interpretation. Learners were asked to rate their confidence in image acquisition and interpretation on a 5-level scale from “no skill” to “expert skill” as defined in the figures.

Results: Preliminary survey data (n = 14) have been collected. Detailed results available in figures 2 and 3. In summary, 60% of learners were likely/very likely to use POCUS in clinical practice and 40% of learners were unlikely/very unlikely. Pre-intervention, 10% of learners rated their proficiency at image acquisition/probe placement at “no skill”, which decreased to 0% post-intervention. Sufficient skill in image acquisition increased from 20% pre-intervention to 50% post-intervention. Regarding image interpretation, 30% of learners rated skill in identifying anatomy as “no skill” or “little skill”. After the intervention, these groups decreased to 0%. Lastly, all participants felt that they were more confident in identifying cardiac anatomy after engaging with this project. All participants also reported that they would continue to use this resource this to learn POCUS.

Conclusions: Learners perceive both value and effectiveness of this educational module. More work must be done to improve objectivity of results including engagement data, competency-based assessments, and randomization against the current standard education model.