Students' Perspectives on Curricular Ultrasound Education at German Medical Schools

Florian Recker; Gregor Barth; Hendra Lo; Nicolas Haverkamp; Dieter Nürnberg; Dmitrij Kravchenko; Tobias Raupach; Valentin Sebastian Schäfer

doi:10.3389/fmed.2021.758255

Students' Perspectives on Curricular Ultrasound Education at German Medical Schools

Front Med (Lausanne). 2021 Nov 25:8:758255. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.758255. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Florian Recker¹, Gregor Barth², Hendra Lo², Nicolas Haverkamp³, Dieter Nürnberg², Dmitrij Kravchenko⁴, Tobias Raupach⁵, Valentin Sebastian Schäfer⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Prenatal Medicine, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
² Brandenburg Institute for Clinical Ultrasound (BICUS), Brandenburg Medical School (Theodor Fontane), Neuruppin, Germany.
³ Dean's Office, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
⁴ Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
⁵ Institute for Medical Education, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
⁶ Clinic of Internal Medicine III, Department of Oncology, Hematology, Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.

Abstract

Background: Despite ultrasound being an inherent part of medical education, only a few German medical schools have established a comprehensive ultrasound curriculum. This study aimed to explore medical students' perspectives on ultrasound in medical education (USMed). Results: Between January 1^st, 2019 und June 30^th, 2019, an online survey was conducted among German medical students via the students' associations and their respective teaching facilities. The survey consisted of 17 items regarding USMed. Statements were rated on a 4-point Likert scale for agreement. In total, 1040 students from 31 German medical faculties participated. The majority (1021, 98.2%) reported a very high to high interest in curricular USMed. Students agreed (n = 945, 90.9%) that USMed would be helpful along their entire course of medical studies. Considering the best starting time for USMed, the opinions of German medical students diverged: students studying in a model curriculum preferred to start in the second year (40.7%) while 49% of the students studying in a traditional curriculum preferred to start in the third year (p ≤ 0.001). An insufficient allotment of time for USMed in the planned curriculum (675, 65%) and a lack of courses run by medical faculty (305, 29.4%) were listed as perceived significant barriers to the participation in USMed. Peer teaching was regarded as an effective method in realizing USMed by 731 (70.3%) students. Conclusion: German medical students are very interested and willing to participate in USMed. There appears to be a high demand for US courses offered by medical schools.

Keywords: curriculum development; medical education; medical student; peer-teaching; ultrasound; ultrasound education.