Anatomy teaching with portable ultrasound to medical students

Abstract

BackgroundMedical students as future clinicians will apply their anatomy knowledge in medical imaging. There are various radiological resources available for the medical students to learn anatomy and contextualise it to the clinical setting. Ultrasound is a safe and non- invasive imaging procedure commonly used in clinical practice. This study aimed to use portable ultrasound and evaluate its impact as an adjunct to cadaveric anatomy teaching together with cross sectional anatomy images and line diagrams.MethodsUltrasound teaching was incorporated into upper limb and lower limb anatomy practical dissecting room sessions. The number of medical students who participated was 121 students from the year 2008 - 2009 and 94 students from the year 2009- 2010. The students were divided into groups of 15-20. Initially ultrasound demonstration was carried out on a volunteer and then the students were given the opportunity to use the ultrasound and identify normal anatomical structures visualized on images. For the students in the year 2009- 2010, ultrasound teaching was supplemented with cross sectional anatomy images and line diagrams. Questionnaires were distributed with seven questions rated using four point Likert scale and free text. Qualitative data was analysed using 2- proportion Z test and Fischer's exact test.ResultsThe number of students in the 2009-2010 year group who were confident in interpreting ultrasound images increased significantly when compared to the 2008-2009 year group of students. The majority of students were able to identify structures like bone, muscles and blood vessels on ultrasound images. There was a significant increase in the number of students who found the ultrasound teaching useful and also those who regarded ultrasound to have improved understanding of anatomy considerably.ConclusionsUltrasound acts as a useful adjunct to teach anatomy in a clinical context to medical students. The use of cross sectional anatomy images and line diagrams together can aid ultrasound image orientation of structures during these sessions. Early exposure to this imaging technology may prime students for later encounters with ultrasound during clinical practice.

Using ultrasound to teach anatomy in the undergraduate medical curriculum: an evaluation of the experiences of tutors and medical students

“…As others have reported, 2,5,9,12,16 students welcomed the introduction of PU into anatomy teaching, valued opportunities to see and/or use an imaging modality which they anticipated using in the future 6,10,17,18 and (indicative of their enjoyment and perceived value of the sessions) they wanted more frequent and longer US sessions. 2,[9][10][11][12]19 Overall, MS-A students responded more positively than MS-B students.…”

“…Formal post-module evaluation data were collected by both medical schools (MS-A, Tables 3 and 4; MS-B's evaluation data have been published 9 and will be discussed later). Anatomists delivered US teaching in both medical schools, but in MS-A a sonographer delivered the more challenging US teaching sessions (abdomen/thorax).…”

“…2,[8][9][10][11] Only Finn et al 3 and Griksaitis et al 4 comment on the efficacy of US in anatomy teaching, noting that US is as efficacious as cadaveric teaching. Sweetman et al 12 offer the most detailed insight into the students' experience of US, commenting on specifics such as improved visual understanding of anatomy, appreciation of anatomical variation, surface anatomy, effect of respiration of organ position, blood flow, clinical contextualisation, US measurement tools, observation of multiple views of organs, probe orientation, small group teaching, US physics, image interpretation and students' desire to scan volunteers themselves.…”

Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) telemedicine project in rural Nicaragua and its impact on patient management

“…Recent studies have described POCUS as being easily taught to medical personnel with a high degree of accuracy [1,9,10]. Medical schools have integrated ultrasound into their teaching curriculum, and students are using it from basic anatomy to advanced imaging as an adjunct to diagnosis and physical examination [11,12]. The use of POCUS in the pre-hospital setting is also increasing as an aid to early diagnosis and medical decision-making [13].…”

Centros de simulação e projeto pedagógico: dois lados da mesma moeda

“…In pre-clinical training, simulation can be used to teach primary medical skills such as cardiac massage, but also as an opportunity to integrate students' knowledge with their skills, such as, for instance, using ultrasonography simulators to teach anatomy [7,8]. By preparing students for clinical training, simulation training can be used to internalize procedural routines that must be automated before the actual contact with patients, such as orotracheal intubation techniques or advanced cardiopulmonary reanimation.…”