1Department of Surgery, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al-Ain, 17666 United Arab Emirates.
2Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al-Ain, 17666 United Arab Emirates.
World J Emerg Surg. 2019 Jan 8;14:1. doi: 10.1186/s13017-018-0220-3. eCollection 2019.
Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) is a useful diagnostic tool. Nevertheless, it needs proper training to reach its required level of competency. Educators who work in low-income countries find it difficult to purchase expensive training computer-based simulators. We aim in this communication to describe the methods to build up and use an efficient, simple, and cheap simulator which can be used for teaching POCUS globally.
It took our group 2 years to develop the simulator to its current form. The required material for the simulator includes a Kunafa knife, a carton gift box and its cover and colored play dough. The Kunafa knife with its blade is an excellent simulator for the small print convex array probe (3-5 MHz) and its ultrasound sections. It is useful to teach two important principles. , the three basic hand movements used to control the ultrasound probe (fanning, tilting, and shifting). , the thin blade of the knife (1 mm thick) simulates the shape of the two-dimensional ultrasound images. The play dough is used to simulate different organs to be cut in different directions like the aorta and inferior vena cava.
The simulator was used to teach 88 fifth year medical students during the period of November 2017 to November 2018 at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University. The simulator was valid, simple, portable, and sustainable. The students greatly enjoyed its use. The cost of the simulator is less than 10 US dollars.
Surgical educators who work in low-income countries are encouraged to develop their educational tools that are tailored to their own needs. Our simulator can help our colleagues who want to teach POCUS and cannot purchase expensive mannequins and computer-based simulators.
即时超声检查（POCUS）是一种有用的诊断工具。然而，要达到所需的熟练程度，需要进行适当的培训。在低收入国家工作的教育工作者发现很难购买昂贵的基于计算机的培训模拟器。在本通讯中，我们旨在描述建立和使用高效、简单、廉价的模拟器的方法，该模拟器可用于全球范围内的 POCUS 教学。
我们小组花了 2 年时间将模拟器开发到目前的形式。模拟器所需的材料包括 Kunafa 刀、纸箱礼品盒及其盖子和彩色橡皮泥。带有刀片的 Kunafa 刀是 3-5MHz 的小型凸阵探头及其超声切面的极好模拟器。它可用于教授两个重要原则。一是用于控制超声探头的三个基本手部动作（扇动、倾斜和移动）。二是刀的薄刀片（1 毫米厚）模拟二维超声图像的形状。橡皮泥用于模拟不同器官以不同方向切割，如主动脉和下腔静脉。
该模拟器于 2017 年 11 月至 2018 年 11 月期间在阿联酋大学医学院和健康科学学院教授了 88 名五年级医学生。该模拟器有效、简单、便携且可持续。学生非常喜欢它的使用。模拟器的成本低于 10 美元。
鼓励在低收入国家工作的外科教育工作者开发适合自己需求的教育工具。我们的模拟器可以帮助那些想教授 POCUS 但无法购买昂贵的人体模型和基于计算机的模拟器的同事。
