Department of Graduate Medical Education, PGY-3 resident, University of California San Francisco Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, 747 52nd Street, Suite 245, Oakland, CA, 94609, USA.
Departments of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, University of California San Francisco, 5150 16th St, Box 0632, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
BMC Med Educ. 2022 Jan 3;22(1):7. doi: 10.1186/s12909-021-03072-1.
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is a noninvasive bedside tool with many pediatric applications but is not currently a formal part of pediatric training and practice. Formal surveys of general pediatricians regarding POCUS training are lacking. We aimed to quantify the baseline ultrasound experience and training needs of general pediatricians and pediatric residents across different practice settings.
In 2020, we sent an online survey to 485 current faculty, residents, and graduates from an urban pediatric academic medical center in Northern California. Pediatric subspecialists were excluded. Survey questions about baseline experience, comfort, and perceived usefulness of 20 common POCUS applications were developed by two POCUS experts using existing literature. Chi-squared analysis was used to compare residents versus attendings and to compare attendings practicing in inpatient versus outpatient versus mixed settings.
Response rate was 20% (98/485). Compared to attendings (n = 73), residents (n = 25) endorsed more exposure to POCUS in medical school (32% vs 5%, p = 0.003) and residency (12% vs 5%, p = 0.003). Respondents endorsed low comfort with POCUS (mean 1.3 out of 5 on Likert scale). Of 20 procedural and diagnostic applications, respondents identified abscess drainage, bladder catheterization, soft tissue, neck, advanced abdominal, and constipation as most useful. Overall, 50% of pediatricians (and 70% of pediatric residents) responded that there were opportunities to use POCUS multiple times a week or more in their clinical practice.
There is an unmet demand for POCUS training among general pediatricians and trainees in our study. Although the majority of respondents were not POCUS users, our results could guide future efforts to study the role of POCUS in general pediatrics and develop pediatric curricula.
床边即时超声（POCUS）是一种非侵入性的床边工具，在儿科中有许多应用，但目前它并不是儿科培训和实践的正式组成部分。针对普通儿科医生进行 POCUS 培训的正式调查还很少。我们旨在量化不同实践环境中普通儿科医生和儿科住院医师的基本超声经验和培训需求。
2020 年，我们向加利福尼亚州北部一家城市儿科学术医疗中心的 485 名现任教职员工、住院医师和毕业生发送了一份在线调查。排除了儿科专家。两位 POCUS 专家使用现有文献制定了关于 20 种常见 POCUS 应用的基本经验、舒适度和感知有用性的调查问题。使用卡方检验比较住院医师和主治医生，以及比较住院医师在住院、门诊和混合环境中的实践。
回复率为 20%（98/485）。与主治医生（n=73）相比，住院医师（n=25）在医学院（32%对 5%，p=0.003）和住院医师培训（12%对 5%，p=0.003）中接触 POCUS 的机会更多。受访者对 POCUS 的舒适度评价较低（Likert 量表平均得分为 1.3 分）。在 20 项程序和诊断应用中，受访者认为脓肿引流、膀胱置管、软组织、颈部、高级腹部和便秘最有用。总的来说，50%的儿科医生（和 70%的儿科住院医师）表示，他们在临床实践中有机会每周使用 POCUS 多次或更多次。
在我们的研究中，普通儿科医生和住院医师对 POCUS 培训有未满足的需求。尽管大多数受访者不是 POCUS 用户，但我们的结果可以指导未来研究 POCUS 在普通儿科中的作用和开发儿科课程的努力。
