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A simulation model for the ultrasound diagnosis of long-bone fractures
Jason D Heiner1, Todd J McArthur
1Department of Emergency Medicine, Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, WA 98431, USA. jasonheiner@hotmail.com
Introduction:
Ultrasound is emerging as a promising tool for the diagnosis of skeletal fractures, particularly in environments where conventional radiography may be absent or limited. This article presents a high-fidelity, practical simulation model for the ultrasound diagnosis of long-bone fractures and also examines the ability of physicians to diagnose the presence or absence of different fracture patterns using this model.
Methods:
The bony component of the model is a bare turkey leg bone that is mechanically fractured and housed in a shallow plastic container within a gelatin-based solution. Twenty physicians sonographically evaluated five models with different fracture patterns for the presence or absence of a fracture and were then queried regarding their opinion of this model as a teaching tool.
Results:
Physicians were able to correctly identify the presence or absence of a fractured model with 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity across all fracture patterns and expressed agreement that this would be a useful teaching model.
Conclusions:
This high-fidelity, practical model is simple to construct, and the creation of a variety of fracture patterns is possible. Physicians found this to be a potentially useful teaching tool and correctly identified the presence or absence of different simulated fractures. Further studies may validate this simulation model as a teaching tool in the sonographic assessment of long bones for the presence of fractures and examine the potential clinical impact of this trainer.
