Pocus Med School
Pocus Med School
Pocus Med School
Introduction: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is expanding across all medical specialties. As the benefits
of US technology are becoming apparent, efforts to integrate US into pre-clinical medical education are
growing. Our objective was to describe our process of integrating POCUS as an educational tool into the
medical school curriculum and how such efforts are perceived by students.
Methods: This was a pilot study to introduce ultrasonography into the Harvard Medical School curriculum
to first- and second-year medical students. Didactic and hands-on sessions were introduced to first-year
students during gross anatomy and to second-year students in the physical exam course. Student-perceived
attitudes, understanding, and knowledge of US, and its applications to learning the physical exam, were
measured by a post-assessment survey.
Results: All first-year anatomy students (n=176) participated in small group hands-on US sessions. In the
second-year physical diagnosis course, 38 students participated in four sessions. All students (91%) agreed
or strongly agreed that additional US teaching should be incorporated throughout the four-year medical
school curriculum.
Conclusion: POCUS can effectively be integrated into the existing medical school curriculum by using
didactic and small group hands-on sessions. Medical students perceived US training as valuable in
understanding human anatomy and in learning physical exam skills. This innovative program demonstrates
US as an additional learning modality. Future goals include expanding on this work to incorporate US
education into all four years of medical school. [West J Emerg Med. 2016;17(6)734-40.]
INTRODUCTION
The use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), or bedside
ultrasound, has expanded across many medical and surgical
Western Journal of Emergency Medicine
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Identify carotid artery, jugular vein, and the thyroid; sono-anatomic difference between internal jugular vein and
carotid artery
2. Cardiac
Identify basic cardiac views and orientation of heart chambers and valves
3. Abdomen
Identify relationship and orientation of liver, gallbladder, kidney, Morisons pouch, diaphragm, spleen, aorta,
vena cava
4. Musculoskeletal
While included joints and tendons of shoulder and elbow, due to time constraints the focus was placed on joints
and tendons of the hand and digits, such as metacarpophalangeal joint, metacarpal bones, phalanx bones,
flexor and extensor tendons.
Table 2. Ultrasound curriculum for PGY (postgraduate year)-2 physical exam course.
Session
Ultrasound skill objective
1. Introduction to ultrasound Introduction to machine, basic terminology, transducer types,
basic scanning techniques, orientation, and planes of view
4. Musculoskeletal
ultrasound
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RESULTS
First-year anatomy course
All first-year anatomy students (n=176) participated in
the lab sessions. The short hands-on sessions proved to be a
feasible addition to the course and 91% of students agreed or
strongly agreed that the ultrasound sessions were a positive
addition to the course.
Table 3. Average post-session PGY (postgraduate year)-2 student responses on scale from 1-5 (reported with standard deviation)
given after physical exam course incorporating ultrasound.
Assessment question
Response
4.52 (0.62)
Ultrasound has the ability to enhance my medical training in the pre-clinical courses
4.45 (0.62)
Ultrasound has the ability to enhance my medical training in the clinical years
4.67 (0.6)
I would benefit from continued ultrasound exposure throughout all four years of medical school
4.39 (0.74)
4.61 (0.56)
The addition of ultrasound to the physical diagnosis curriculum helped me more effectively learn physical exam skills
4.36 (0.92)
737
4.33 (1.0)
4.55 (0.67)
4.36 (0.82)
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CONCLUSION
Our pilot efforts have shown that integration of bedside
ultrasonography into the pre-clinical medical school
curriculum is well received by students. We used didactics
and small group hands-on teaching sessions led by a multidisciplinary team of instructors to introduce ultrasound
sessions into the medical school curriculum. Medical
students perceived the US curriculum as valuable in better
understanding human anatomy and learning physical exam
skills. Within our pilot study, students uniformly expressed
the desire for an expanded ultrasound curriculum. Further
work aims to collect more objective data to guide national
guidelines as further ultrasound programs develop and mature
in medical student education.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank Trudy Van Houten, PhD, Cynthia
McDermott, PhD, (referred to as TV and CM in manuscript),
and Evan Sanders for their organizational assistance with
Volume XVII, no. 6: November 2016
Emergency Medicine.
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