Resident Instruction: Improving End-of-Year Medical Student Ultrasound Performance

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Emergency Medicine
• Point-of-Care Ultrasound

Background:

• Limited faculty expertise hinders ultrasound integration in medical education.
• Developing effective ultrasound training for medical students is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a resident-led extended focused assessment with sonography in trauma (eFAST) session.
• To measure the impact on fourth-year medical students' end-of-year eFAST performance and confidence.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving fourth-year medical students.
• An intervention group received a resident-taught eFAST session; a control group reviewed an eFAST video.
• Performance assessed via Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE); confidence measured using a Likert scale.

Main Results:

• The intervention group showed significantly higher OSCE scores compared to the control group (P=.04).
• After excluding students with prior ultrasound experience, the intervention group demonstrated higher OSCE scores (P=.01) and confidence (P=.01).

Conclusions:

• Resident-led eFAST instruction effectively improved fourth-year medical students' performance.
• This training approach enhanced student confidence in eFAST procedures during emergency medicine clerkships.