Ang John, Doyle Brian, Allen Penny, Cheek Colleen
Emergency Department, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Emergency Department, Royal Hobart Hospital, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
Clin Teach. 2018 Aug;15(4):331-335. doi: 10.1111/tct.12692. Epub 2017 Aug 8.
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) assists in the rapid diagnosis of conditions in the Emergency Department (ED). POCUS has been introduced to international medical curricula; however, there is no described implementation of clinically focused POCUS education in Australian medical schools. We wanted to investigate whether a formal curriculum can be effective and feasible in an Australian medical school.
Pre-post intervention study of a focused curriculum based on the Extended Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (E-FAST) examination, consisting of online and practical teaching, was implemented for Year-4 and -5 medical students. An online questionnaire was used to measure knowledge, image interpretation and confidence prior to the intervention. After the intervention and ED placement, the questionnaire was repeated and students were assessed performing the E-FAST examination on a healthy volunteer.
Twenty-seven students participated in both the pre-intervention and post-intervention questionnaires. There was a significant improvement in confidence in performing the E-FAST after the intervention [p < 0.001]. There was also a significant improvement in ultrasound knowledge and image interpretation skills. For the formative assessment, the mean score was 31.8 out of 33 and 22 of 27 students (82%) passed the assessment. There is no described implementation of clinically focused point-of-care ultrasound education in Australian medical schools CONCLUSIONS: We have demonstrated that a focused curriculum can improve POCUS knowledge and skills. The curriculum was feasible and well received. With global trends to include POCUS in medical education, Australian institutions should consider upskilling their medical graduates.
床旁超声（POCUS）有助于急诊科（ED）对病情进行快速诊断。POCUS已被纳入国际医学课程；然而，澳大利亚医学院校尚未有关于以临床为重点的POCUS教育实施情况的描述。我们想研究在澳大利亚一所医学院校中，一套正式课程是否有效且可行。
对四年级和五年级医学生实施了一项基于创伤超声重点评估扩展版（E-FAST）检查的重点课程的干预前后研究，该课程包括在线教学和实践教学。在干预前，通过在线问卷来衡量知识、图像解读能力和信心。干预及急诊科实习后，再次进行问卷调查，并评估学生对一名健康志愿者进行E-FAST检查的操作情况。
27名学生参与了干预前和干预后的问卷调查。干预后，学生在进行E-FAST检查时的信心有显著提高[p < 0.001]。超声知识和图像解读技能也有显著提高。在形成性评估中，平均得分是33分中的31.8分，27名学生中有22名（82%）通过了评估。澳大利亚医学院校尚未有关于以临床为重点的床旁超声教育实施情况的描述。结论：我们已证明一套重点课程可以提高POCUS知识和技能。该课程可行且受到好评。鉴于全球将POCUS纳入医学教育的趋势，澳大利亚院校应考虑提升其医学毕业生的技能水平。
