Acquisition of technical skills in ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia using a high-fidelity simulator

Despite the increasing popularity of ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia (UGRA), structured training programs during residency are often lacking. The lack of a regional block area, lack of expertise, and lack of structured training programs have limited hands-on experience in residency programs. However, these constraints may be circumvented through the use of simulation. This observational study looked at the use of a high-fidelity simulator for training novice undergraduate students UGRA techniques. Despite some improvement in the second trial with the simulator, the ability to maintain visualization of their needle (p<0.05), align needle with probe (p<0.05), and angle their needle approach (p<0.05), as well as reduce needle passes (p<0.05) did not improve. The results show students had difficulty learning skills requiring more coordination and fine motor control.