Teaching a complex skill in ultrasound: Attempt with caution!

Abstract

Health professionals are required to perform a range of skills to undertake their clinical practice roles. The clinical, technical, procedural, or psychomotor skills required for each discipline are unique. To be able to perform these skills they must first be taught and then learned. Most educators still use a two-step or master-apprentice model to teach simple and complex psychomotor skills. However, when the skill is complex, there is an emergent body of literature which suggests that an alternative pedagogical approach should be used. This is because using a two-step skill teaching approach may not use a range of instructional approaches that are suited to learning large and multi-dimensional skills. Therefore, the skill should be classified as either simple or complex prior to teaching it. When it is complex, an alternative skill teaching approach should be used. Yet, there is currently a lack of contemporary literature which outlines a strategy to identify and classify those skills which are complex. Consequently, it is currently a challenge for educators to be able to perform this instructional approach. This presentation will outline the steps to classify and identify those psychomotor skills which are complex. An 11-step model will be presented and reviewed to teach complex psychomotor skills (Nicholls, Sweet, Muller, & Hyett, 2016).