de Lange Johanna Maria, Baatjes Karin J, Marthinussen Chad, Correia Janine C
Division of Clinical Anatomy, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, P.O. Box 241, Cape Town, 8000 South Africa.
Division of Surgery, Department of Surgical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.
Med Sci Educ. 2024 Sep 23;35(1):123-136. doi: 10.1007/s40670-024-02153-2. eCollection 2025 Feb.
Point-of-care ultrasound has become an important part of patient care, and the increased use thereof has led to a greater demand for the integration of ultrasound training in the early medical undergraduate curriculum. The use of handheld wireless ultrasound devices is not currently integrated within the undergraduate anatomy medical curriculum of Stellenbosch University and the additional value of wireless ultrasonography, in relation to the clinical practice of anatomical knowledge, therefore, warranted further investigation. This study aimed to explore undergraduate medical students' perceptions of the use of handheld wireless ultrasound scanning to enhance knowledge and understanding of anatomy for clinical application. During the dissection sessions, students visualized anatomical structures of the musculoskeletal system, by scanning themselves, using handheld, wireless ultrasound devices. After the session, an electronic survey was distributed to the students and three ultrasonography questions were included in the routine practical test. Eighty-one survey responses were collected, with 41 of those responses being completed. The highest student agreement in the Likert scale survey was observed when assessing the convenience of practice of wireless ultrasound devices, while the lowest agreement was reported for confidence in the participant's capability of generating ultrasound images. Two main themes were developed from the open-ended questions at the end of the survey: the instructional integration of ultrasound and ultrasound within the clinical setting. This research demonstrated that readily available access to handheld wireless ultrasound scanning has the potential to enhance students' longitudinal learning experience and improve anatomical comprehension. As future clinicians, improved understanding could aid ultrasound application in the clinical realm.
床旁超声已成为患者护理的重要组成部分，其使用的增加导致对在医学本科早期课程中整合超声培训的需求更大。目前，斯泰伦博斯大学的本科解剖学医学课程中尚未纳入手持式无线超声设备的使用，因此，无线超声检查相对于解剖学知识临床实践的附加价值值得进一步研究。本研究旨在探讨本科医学生对手持式无线超声扫描用于增强临床应用中解剖学知识和理解的看法。在解剖课期间，学生们使用手持式无线超声设备对自己进行扫描，以可视化肌肉骨骼系统的解剖结构。课程结束后，向学生发放了电子调查问卷，并在常规实践测试中纳入了三个超声检查问题。共收集到81份调查问卷回复，其中41份回复完整。在李克特量表调查中，评估无线超声设备操作便利性时学生的认可度最高，而对参与者生成超声图像能力的信心认可度最低。调查结束时的开放式问题产生了两个主要主题：超声在教学中的整合以及超声在临床环境中的应用。这项研究表明，随时可使用手持式无线超声扫描有潜力增强学生的长期学习体验并提高解剖学理解。作为未来的临床医生，更好的理解有助于超声在临床领域的应用。
