Abstract
BackgroundPoint-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is becoming widely adopted with increasing accessibility of courses. Little is known about the optimal design of the introductory course or longitudinal training programs targeting hospitalists that are critical to success.MethodsHospitalists at four academic sites participated in a two-day introductory course and a longitudinal phase comprising clinical POCUS practice, clip uploading with online feedback, hands-on teaching, and monthly ultrasound conferences. Assessments were performed immediately before and after the two-day course and after 1 year.ResultsKnowledge increased from baseline to post two-day course (median score 58 and 85%, respectively, p < 0.001) and decreased slightly at 1 year (median score 81%, p = 0.012). After the two-day introductory course, the median score for hands-on image acquisition skills, the principal metric of participant success, was 75%. After 1 year, scores were similar (median score 74%). Confidence increased from baseline to post two-day course (1.5 to 3.1 on a 4 point Likert scale from Not at all confident (1) to Very confident (4), p < 0.001), and remained unchanged after 1 year (2.73). Course elements correlating with a passing score on the final hands-on test included number of clip uploads (r = 0.85, p,0.001), attendance at hands-on sessions (r = 0.7, p = 0.001), and attendance at monthly conferences (r = 0.50, p = 0.03).ConclusionsThe I-ScaN POCUS training program increased hospitalist knowledge, skill and confidence with maintained skill and confidence after 1 year. Uploading clips and attending hands-on teaching sessions were most correlative with participant success.
Highlights
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is becoming widely adopted with increasing accessibility of courses
The availability of less expensive ultrasound devices and the increasing accessibility of training programs have facilitated the growth of POCUS within general medicine, both in the inpatient and ambulatory settings [2, 8,9,10]
A recent position statement from the Alliance of Academic Internal Medicine recommended the integration of POCUS across the longitudinal training environment for UME, GME and CME in internal medicine [1]
Summary
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is becoming widely adopted with increasing accessibility of courses. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is becoming widely adopted across the field of hospital medicine after becoming well established in fields with competency overlap such as Emergency Medicine and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine [1, 2]. The availability of less expensive ultrasound devices and the increasing accessibility of training programs have facilitated the growth of POCUS within general medicine, both in the inpatient and ambulatory settings [2, 8,9,10]. A 2013 survey of internal medicine program directors found that POCUS was considered valuable for diagnostic and procedural use and many residency programs had either adopted formal curricula or had planned to [11]. A recent position statement from the Alliance of Academic Internal Medicine recommended the integration of POCUS across the longitudinal training environment for UME, GME and CME in internal medicine [1]
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