Piloting a Graduate Medical Education Point-of-Care Ultrasound Curriculum

Robinson M Ferre; Frances M Russell; Dina Peterson; Bita Zakeri; Audrey Herbert; Benjamin Nti; Mitchell Goldman; James G Wilcox; Paul M Wallach

doi:10.7759/cureus.27173

Piloting a Graduate Medical Education Point-of-Care Ultrasound Curriculum

Cureus. 2022 Jul 23;14(7):e27173. doi: 10.7759/cureus.27173. eCollection 2022 Jul.

Authors

Robinson M Ferre¹, Frances M Russell¹, Dina Peterson², Bita Zakeri³, Audrey Herbert¹, Benjamin Nti¹, Mitchell Goldman⁴, James G Wilcox⁵, Paul M Wallach⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA.
² Department of Radiologic Sciences, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA.
³ Department of Continuing Medical Education, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA.
⁴ Department of Internal Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA.
⁵ Department of Family Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA.

Abstract

Objective As point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) use grows, training in graduate medical education (GME) is increasingly needed. We piloted a multispecialty GME POCUS curriculum and assessed feasibility, knowledge, and comfort with performing POCUS exams. Methods Residents were selected from the following residency programs: internal medicine, family medicine, emergency medicine, and a combined internal medicine/pediatrics program. Didactics occurred through an online curriculum that consisted of five modules: physics and machine operation, cardiac, lung, soft tissue, and extended focused sonography in trauma applications. Residents completed a pre- and post-curriculum questionnaire, as well as knowledge assessments before and after each module. One-hour hands-on training sessions were held for each module. Differences between pre- and post-participation questionnaire responses were analyzed using the Wilcoxon rank sum. Results Of the 24 residents selected, 21 (86%) were post-graduate year two or three, and 16 (65%) were from the internal medicine program. Eighteen (67%) residents reported limited prior POCUS experience. All pre- to post-knowledge assessment scores increased (p<0.05). Statistically significant increases pre- to post-curriculum were found for frequency of POCUS use (p = 0.003), comfort in using POCUS for assessing for abdominal aortic aneurysm, soft tissue abscess detection, undifferentiated hypotension and dyspnea, cardiac arrest and heart failure (p<0.025); and competency in machine use, acquiring and interpreting images and incorporating POCUS into clinical practice (p<0.001). All participants felt the skills learned during this curriculum were essential to their future practice. Conclusions In this pilot, we found using a combination of online and hands-on training to be feasible, with improvement in residents' knowledge, comfort, and use of POCUS.

Keywords: graduate medical education (gme); online medical education; pilot project; point of care ultrasound (pocus); residency curriculum.