A Comparison of Cardiac Ultrasound Instructional Methodologies in Undergraduate Medical Education

A growing part of medical education is ultrasound as it allows students to integrate basic sciences with the clinical. Recently, there has been an increasing effort among medical schools to integrate ultrasound technology into preclinical medical education. Many medical schools are developing POCUS (Point of Care Ultrasound) based ultrasound curriculums. The objective of this study was to determine the most effective method of teaching 1st year medical students cardiac anatomy and clinical skills through POCUS. We hypothesized that the best way of learning cardiac POCUS is by an in-person demonstration by a sonographer, when compared to watching video demonstrations. The participants included 20 1st-year medical students from the California University of Science and Medicine - School of Medicine (CUSM - SOM). Students were divided into two groups: video group and the in-person demonstration group. There were 10 students in each group. The participants had no previous experience with POCUS. Results showed that a more effective method of teaching 1st-year medical students cardiac POCUS is through in-person demonstrations, rather than watching online modules, as students in this group were better able to identify correct probe placement and heart chambers in short axis.

Keywords:Medical education; Ultrasonography; Point-of-care ultrasound