Assessment of ultrasound-guided procedures in preclinical years

Abstract

Medical graduates entering residency often lack confidence and competence in procedural skills. Implementation of ultrasound (US)-guided procedures into undergraduate medical education is a logical step to addressing medical student procedural competency. The objective of our study was to determine the impact of an US teaching workshop geared toward training medical students in how to perform three distinct US-guided procedures. Cross-sectional study at an urban academic medical center. Following a 1-h didactic session, a sample of 11 students out of 105 (10.5 %) were asked to perform three procedures each (total 33 procedures) to establish a baseline of procedural proficiency. Following a 1-h didactic session, students were asked to perform 33 procedures using needle guidance with ultrasound to establish a baseline of student proficiency. Also, a baseline survey regarding student opinions, self-assessment of skills, and US procedure knowledge was administered before and after the educational intervention. After the educational workshop, students' procedural competency was assessed by trained ultrasound clinicians. One-hundred-and-five third-year medical students participated in this study. The average score for the knowledge-based test improved from 46 % (SD 16 %) to 74 % (SD 14 %) (p < 0.05). Students' overall confidence in needle guidance improved from 3.1 (SD 2.4) to 7.8 (SD 1.5) (p < 0.05). Student assessment of procedural competency using an objective and validated assessment tool demonstrated statistically significant (p < 0.05) improvement in all procedures. The one-day US education workshop employed in this study was effective at immediately increasing third-year medical students' confidence and technical skill at performing US-guided procedures.

Keywords: Intravenous access; Needle aspiration; Nerve blocks; Point-of-care ultrasound; Ultrasound-guided procedures; Undergraduate medical education.