Exploring knowledge, attitude and confidence in point-of-care ultrasound among emergency physicians and radiologists in Jordan: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE

This study explored POCUS knowledge, attitudes, confidence, barriers, enablers, and their associated factors among radiologists and emergency physicians in Jordan.

METHODS

A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study covered five sections: socio-demographics, knowledge, attitude, confidence, and barriers and enablers. Summary statistics, correlation, and regression analyses were performed.

RESULTS

A total of 164 physicians participated, with an average age of 33.8 (± 7.69) years; 52.4% were radiologists and 47.6% were emergency physicians. Participants exhibited good knowledge, attitudes, and confidence. Higher attitude scores (β = 0.28; p < 0.001) and having a POCUS machine (β = 1.70; p = 0.01) were associated with higher knowledge. Higher knowledge (β = 0.64; p < 0.001) predicted better attitudes, while attitude (β = 0.21; p = 0.01), specialty radiologist (β = 8.5; p < 0.001), age (β = 0.23; p < 0.001), and number of monthly scans (β = 0.01; p = 0.01) predicted confidence.

CONCLUSION

Radiologists and emergency physicians in Jordan demonstrated good POCUS knowledge, attitudes, and confidence. Specialty and usage frequency influenced these factors. Future studies should explore training effects on skill acquisition. The study found different factors that are associated with knowledge, attitude, and confidence levels such as specialty, frequency of using POCUS, and the levels of knowledge, attitude and confidence. Future studies, including large prospective studies and/or experimental studies that examine the effect of training on skill acquisition among various healthcare professionals are warranted.