2085897 Effetctivness of Teaching Vascular Anatomy with Ultrasound for Undergraduate Nursing Students

Abstract

Ultrasound has been used gradually and widely in medical education for the past several years. With interest in and need for education in ultrasound, a number of medical schools have recently developed ultrasound curricula for undergraduate medical education. We began expansion of ultrasound not only to medical school but school of nursing. As a pilot for undergraduate nursing education, we conducted a hands-on session for on vascular anatomy with ultrasound for the second degree students of Bachelor of Science of Nursing to see whether incorporating ultrasound into vascular anatomy class can improve students’ learning experiences. The students were required to watch online lectures on history and physics of ultrasound and lectures on knobology and user’s guide on the ultrasound devices prior to the class. Student knowledge was assessed with pictoral and non-pictoral multiple-choice questions. All students (n = 31) were required to take pre- and post-test for the class session which included didactic lecture and hands-on teaching. Descriptive statistics and Student’s t-test were used for statistical analysis. Student average score on the pre-test was 33.9±17.8 and that of the post-test was 70.6±16.7, with average change in score of 36.7 points (95% CI: 28.1 – 45.4, p < .0001). Observation of students during activities indicated that visualization of structures with ultrasound helped students localize the venipuncture site. Future plans for improved integration of ultrasound skills for vascular access include providing more integrated anatomical instruction, ultrasound images with clearly identified structures and assessment of ultrasound skills during OBJECTIVES: structured clinical examinaiton. In conclusion, incorporating ultrasound into teaching vascular anatomy was effective and should be expanded to all undergraduate or graduate nursing education.