Sonoanatomy in a team‐based combined medical and physician assistant curriculum (722.2)

Abstract

A curriculum in sonoanatomy was piloted in the Human Structure, Function and Development (HSFD) block at the University of New Mexico. This 10‐week block combines anatomy, histology and embryology using team‐based learning. It is the first block in the 1.5 year integrated Phase I Medical and Physician Assistant (PA) curriculum. The purpose was to expose the 111 Medical and 17 PA students to ultrasound, which is becoming essential in the clinic, by providing hands on 3D imaging to reinforce and apply anatomy knowledge. Three 1‐hour sessions were led once per week by two clinicians, with 20‐22 students per instructor per session. Sessions correlated with the weekly laboratory objectives and began with a short introduction and an ultrasound demonstration on a standardized patient. Each student then practiced ultrasonography on the standardized patient. Ultrasound images were included on weekly individual and group readiness assessment tests, clinical application cases, and three section exams. Performance on ultrasound questions varied on summative (better) and formative (worse) questions and also differed dependent on anatomical region. Student evaluations indicated that the ultrasound sessions supported better understanding of the content each week (3.23/5 points on a Likert scale of agreement). Students especially appreciated clinician interaction (4.22/5 points). Specific student comments will be used to improve and better integrate sonoanatomy with HSFD.