Dawkins Stacy, Cooper Shannon, Wilcox James, Morrow Eryn, Mayall Hayley, Rebman Rebecca
Stacy Dawkins, DMSc, PA-C, is an adjunct professor, Indiana University Masters of Physician Assistant Studies Program, School of Health and Human Sciences, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Shannon Cooper, MSEd, is a instructional design manager, Department of Family Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana.
J Physician Assist Educ. 2024 Dec 1;35(4):430-436. doi: 10.1097/JPA.0000000000000635.
Many physician assistant/associate (PA) programs lack point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) education in the PA curricula and a standardized approach to ultrasound training. The four-component instructional design (4C/ID) model merges 4 concepts for developing effective instructional design content for complex content delivery, such as ultrasound. This research study created an interactive, 2-part ultrasound curriculum with an instructional designer for PA students using the 4C/ID model.
Two interactive ultrasound curriculum models were created from the 4C/ID model using a knowledge-based precurriculum quiz, learning tasks with online modules and recordings, part-task practice with ultrasound experts, skills checkoffs, and a postcurriculum quiz including questions on students' perspectives of ultrasound. Two-tailed paired t -test analysis assessed the effectiveness of training.
Evaluation of prelearning and postlearning quizzes demonstrated multiple statistically significant assessments supporting the use of instructional design technology for a PA program's ultrasound curriculum.
This small study demonstrated that the 4C/ID model may be beneficial for PA POCUS training. The 2-part interactive curriculum improved PA student competency of ultrasound principles and applications and increased confidence for future clinical use of ultrasound.
