A Feasibility Study of Telementoring for Identifying the Appendix Using Smartphone-Based Telesonography.

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Ultrasound Technology
• Clinical Education

Background:

• Appendicitis diagnosis often relies on expert ultrasonography.
• Training novice practitioners in specialized ultrasound techniques can be challenging.
• Remote mentoring offers a potential solution to expand access to expert guidance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of novice-practitioner-performed ultrasonography guided by offsite mentors for appendix identification.
• To compare the effectiveness of offsite versus onsite expert mentoring in a randomized crossover study.

Main Methods:

• A randomized crossover study involving 30 novice practitioners and a telesonography system.
• Practitioners performed appendix identification on simulated patients under both onsite and offsite expert mentoring.
• Success rates and time to identification were primary outcome measures.

Main Results:

• High success rates for appendix identification were achieved in both onsite (91.1%) and offsite (87.8%) mentoring groups, with no significant difference.
• The time required for identification was not significantly different between offsite and onsite mentoring (p=0.051).

Conclusions:

• Offsite-mentor-guided ultrasonography is a feasible and effective method for novice practitioners to identify the appendix.
• This approach allows for comparable performance to onsite mentoring, even for complex ultrasound procedures.
• Telesonography holds promise for improving ultrasound training and accessibility in remote or underserved areas.