[Education in ultrasound examination: how to overcome the particular difficulty]

Ultrasound examination is a painless and safe procedure which provides precise images of structures within a human body and valuable information in diagnosing and treating diseases. Ultrasound is widely used to evaluate a fetus, digestive organs, cardiovascular system, kidney, breast, thyroid gland and so on. However, the examination requires an expert examiner not merely with sophisticated technique but with detailed knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology and the correlation between ultrasonic findings and clinical information. These factors make it difficult to educate students with regard to ultrasound examination. In our department, all the students experience ultrasound examination during Early Exposure Practice in the 1st year. For the 3rd-year students in the Medical Technology Course, ultrasound imaging of several organs is demonstrated just before starting the lectures on ultrasound, and practical training programs for the heart, digestive system and thyroid gland are provided soon after finishing the lectures. More detailed training program on the cardiovascular and abdominal examinations will be provided in the 4th year. However, it is difficult to educate them to be experts before graduation, and the Postgraduate School may play an important role in training versatile sonographers with excellent leadership.