Structured Cardiac Assessment Outperforms Visual Estimation in Novice Ultrasound Users: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Diagnostic Ultrasound
• Cardiology

Background:

• Emergency medicine curricula teach two methods for assessing left ventricular (LV) systolic function: a structured approach and the eyeball method.
• The structured approach qualitatively evaluates LV fractional shortening, E-point septal separation, and LV diameter.
• The eyeball method qualitatively estimates LV ejection fraction (LVEF).

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness of the structured approach versus the eyeball method for teaching novice medical students LVEF estimation.
• To determine which method leads to superior accuracy in interpreting echocardiogram clips for LV function.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial was conducted with medical students.
• Participants were randomized to receive a 15-minute educational module on either the structured approach or the eyeball method.
• Trained participants interpreted 12 echocardiogram clips, with accuracy assessed by a cardiologist.

Main Results:

• Thirty-two novice medical students completed the study, with most having no prior ultrasound training.
• The structured approach group achieved a significantly higher percentage of correct interpretations (88.9%) compared to the eyeball method group (73.0%).
• Training time was similar between groups, indicating the structured approach's efficiency.

Conclusions:

• The structured qualitative LV assessment method is more effective for training novice ultrasound users than the eyeball method.
• Brief training in the structured approach enables learners to achieve high accuracy in LV function assessment.
• Findings can inform the development of undergraduate ultrasound curricula.