© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education. THE CLINICAL TEACHER 2017; 14: 1–5 1
Original
Article
Teaching bedside
ultrasound to medical
students
John Ang
1
, Brian Doyle
2
, Penny Allen
3
and Colleen Cheek
3
1
Emergency Department, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia,
Australia
2
Emergency Department, Royal Hobart Hospital, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
3
Research Fellow, University of Tasmania Rural Clinical School, Burnie, Tasmania, Australia
SUMMARY
Objective: Point-of-care ultra-
sound (POCUS) assists in the
rapid diagnosis of conditions in
the Emergency Department (ED).
POCUS has been introduced to
international medical curricula;
however, there is no described
implementation of clinically
focused POCUS education in
Australian medical schools. We
wanted to investigate whether a
formal curriculum can be effec-
tive and feasible in an Australian
medical school.
Methods: Pre–post intervention
study of a focused curriculum
based on the Extended Focused
Assessment with Sonography in
Trauma (E-FAST) examination,
consisting of online and practical
teaching, was implemented for
Year-4 and -5 medical students.
An online questionnaire was used
to measure knowledge, image
interpretation and confidence
prior to the intervention. After the
intervention and ED placement,
the questionnaire was repeated
and students were assessed
performing the E-FAST examina-
tion on a healthy volunteer.
Results: Twenty-seven students
participated in both the pre-
intervention and post-
intervention questionnaires.
There was a significant improve-
ment in confidence in performing
the E-FAST after the intervention
[p < 0.001]. There was also a
significant improvement in
ultrasound knowledge and image
interpretation skills. For the
formative assessment, the mean
score was 31.8 out of 33 and 22
of 27 students (82%) passed the
assessment.
Conclusions: We have demon-
strated that a focused curriculum
can improve POCUS knowledge
and skills. The curriculum was
feasible and well received. With
global trends to include POCUS in
medical education, Australian
institutions should consider
upskilling their medical
graduates.
There is no
described
implementation
of clinically
focused
point-of-care
ultrasound
education in
Australian
medical schools