Vahanian Sevan A, Gallagher Kathryn, Chavez Martin R, Kinzler Wendy L, Vintzileos Anthony M
a Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology , Winthrop University Hospital , Mineola , NY , USA and.
b Aurora Health System , Aurora , WI , USA.
J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2016;29(15):2481-4. doi: 10.3109/14767058.2015.1090423. Epub 2015 Sep 28.
To determine if a structured teaching module improves resident competency in transvaginal sonographic cervical length measurements.
This was a prospective cohort study involving obstetrics and gynecology residents at a single institution. Residents collected 10 transvaginal cervical images from patients with threatened preterm labor presenting to Labor and Delivery. After initial image acquisition, residents participated in a lecture-based teaching module involving a pre- and post-intervention assessment. Following the didactic session, they collected 10 additional images. All the images were scored independently by two Maternal-Fetal Medicine attending physicians based on the quality and accuracy of the measured cervical length. Pre-and post- intervention test results were compared, as well as pre- and post- intervention image scores. Parametric and nonparametric tests were used as appropriate with p < 0.05 considered significant.
Ninety-three percent of the residents (14/15) improved their scores from pre-test to post-test or maintained an already perfect score (p < 0.01). Improvement was most significant with the junior residents. Seventy-nine percent of the residents (11/14) improved their cervical image scores after the educational session. Mean score for total residents was 73.7 + 12.6 pre-intervention and 90.2 + 9.9 post-intervention (p < 0.01) out of a total of 120.
There is an improvement in the competence of resident measured cervical lengths via transvaginal ultrasound when a structured educational module is implemented for resident education.
