Olgers T J, Azizi N, Bouma H R, Ter Maaten J C
Dept Internal Med, Univ Groningen, Univ Med Ctr Groningen, 9700 RB, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Dept of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Univ Groningen, Univ Med Ctr Groningen, 9700 RB, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Ultrasound J. 2020 Sep 7;12(1):43. doi: 10.1186/s13089-020-00190-7.
Point-of-care Ultrasound (POCUS) is becoming an important diagnostic tool for internal medicine and ultrasound educational programs are being developed. An ultrasound course is often included in such a curriculum. We have performed a prospective observational questionnaire-based cohort study consisting of participants of a POCUS course for internal medicine in the Netherlands in a 2-year period. We investigated the usefulness of an ultrasound course and barriers participants encountered after the course.
55 participants (49%) completed the pre-course questionnaire, 29 (26%) completed the post-course questionnaire, 11 participants (10%) finalized the third questionnaire. The number of participants who performs POCUS was almost doubled after the course (from 34.5 to 65.5%). Almost all participants felt insufficiently skilled before the course which declined to 34.4% after the course. The majority (N = 26 [89.7%]) stated that this 2-day ultrasound course was sufficient enough to perform POCUS in daily practice but also changed daily practice. The most important barriers withholding them from performing ultrasound are lack of experts for supervision, insufficient practice time and absence of an ultrasound machine.
This study shows that a 2-day hands-on ultrasound course seems a sufficient first step in an ultrasound curriculum for internal medicine physicians to obtain enough knowledge and skills to perform POCUS in clinical practice but it also changes clinical practice. However, there are barriers in the transfer to clinical practice that should be addressed which may improve curriculum designing.
床旁超声（POCUS）正成为内科重要的诊断工具，超声教育项目也在不断发展。此类课程通常会包含超声课程。我们在两年时间里对荷兰内科POCUS课程的参与者进行了一项基于问卷的前瞻性观察队列研究。我们调查了超声课程的实用性以及参与者在课程结束后遇到的障碍。
55名参与者（49%）完成了课前问卷，29名（26%）完成了课后问卷，11名参与者（10%）完成了第三份问卷。课程结束后进行POCUS检查的参与者人数几乎翻了一番（从34.5%增至65.5%）。几乎所有参与者在课程开始前都觉得自己技能不足，课程结束后这一比例降至34.4%。大多数人（N = 26 [89.7%]）表示，这为期两天的超声课程足以让他们在日常实践中进行POCUS检查，而且还改变了日常实践。阻碍他们进行超声检查的最重要障碍是缺乏专家指导、实践时间不足以及没有超声设备。
本研究表明，为期两天的实践超声课程似乎是内科医生超声课程中足够的第一步，使他们能够获得在临床实践中进行POCUS检查所需的足够知识和技能，但它也改变了临床实践。然而，在向临床实践的转化过程中存在一些障碍需要解决，这可能会改进课程设计。
