Lifesaving Sonography Protocols: A Pilot Course Involving Undergraduate Medical Students

Abstract

Background: Ultrasonography protocols are easy to learn, frequently used in emergency medicine, and could be useful for inexperienced doctors. Inthis field, only a few protocols are needed to give an initial diagnosis and to start fast and proper treatment. Until now, only Focused Assessmentwith Sonography for Trauma (FAST) protocol training studies have been reported in the medical literature. Our point-of-care course, comprisedof extended FAST, lung scan and ocular scan trainings. The students’ curriculum usually does not include such ultrasonography courses, thus,we wanted to check its utility for the undergraduate medical students. Methods: Training lasted six days and consisted of two parts: 22 hoursof theoretical classes and 18 hours of practical activities, all trained and evaluated by six experienced medical doctors. Eighty-five electedstudents completed pre- and post-study questionnaires about emergency ultrasonography and passed the practical final exam. Results: Eighty-fiveparticipants of the course were present in the pre- and final test. Final test scores of theoretical and practical exams were significantly higherafter the training (58% vs. 87%; n=85; p<0.01). Answers for the questions related to FAST and EFAST (extended FAST) were correct irrespectiveof completion of the course. A question regarding the sonographic evaluation of body fluid incontinence was found to be the most difficult forstudents. After the course, 96.5% of participants were able to complete an EFAST scan at an adequate level of performance in under two minutes.Conclusion: Results show that medical students significantly extended their knowledge about point-of-care emergency medicine ultrasonographyand acquired practical skills during the course. Emergency medicine ultrasonography courses could be included into medical students’ curricula.

Ultrasound imaging in medical student education: Impact on learning anatomy and physical diagnosis

“…When surveyed, the students assessed ultrasound training favorably, and were in favor of further training with this modality (Gogalniceanu et al, ). At the University of Gdansk, Poland, a medical school class was provided an intensive six‐day US course, with 22 hours of lectures and 18 hours of hands‐on training exercises (Wisniewski and Garnier, ). Subsequent scores on a practical examination related to US imaging of the lungs, cardiovascular system and eyes increased significantly, and 96% of students were able to perform a standardized FAST examination in less than two minutes (Wisniewski and Garnier, ).…”

“…At the University of Gdansk, Poland, a medical school class was provided an intensive six‐day US course, with 22 hours of lectures and 18 hours of hands‐on training exercises (Wisniewski and Garnier, ). Subsequent scores on a practical examination related to US imaging of the lungs, cardiovascular system and eyes increased significantly, and 96% of students were able to perform a standardized FAST examination in less than two minutes (Wisniewski and Garnier, ). Afonso et al () also integrated US instruction into a physical diagnosis course, with demonstrations followed by practice on standardized patients.…”

Integration of ultrasonography course in the students’ curriculum. Is it always useful?

“…Blehar et al (2015) demonstrated that reliable ultrasound examinations need much experience, especially if the results are to be interpreted correctly. It has been proved that in many medical fields only a few protocols are needed for initial diagnosis and for starting the right treatment (Frederiksen et al, 2012;Wisniewski and Garnier, 2015), but ultrasonography is one of the easiest-tolearn radiological methods. Indeed, Chiao et al (2005) showed that ultrasonography is easy to teach to crew members of the International Space Station, who had no medical education.…”

Assessment of EFAST training for final year medical students in emergency medicine clerkship

“…1 Ultrasound is now an essential part of undergraduate medical education. 2 , 3 Emergency ultrasound education, especially for the senior undergraduate years, may help students to use bedside ultrasound in their future management of critically-ill patients. Ultrasound is an essential tool for the diagnosis, resuscitation, and critical care of trauma patients.…”

“… 8 Assessments for EFAST training include pre and post-test, and psychomotor skill evaluation. 3 , 7 Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) assessments were used by some researchers to better understand students' performance on EFAST. 6 To the best of our knowledge, the correlation between EFAST skills and other clinical skills (cardiopulmonary resuscitation, airway management, suturing, emergency case management) were not studied before.…”