Assessing Rapid Visual Perception in Medical Students Trained in Ultrasound

Rapid visual perception of ultrasound (US) images was compared between 1st- and 2nd-year medical students at 2 days or 6 months following ultrasound training, respectively. Briefly, US images were presented for 0.2 s, after which, participants were asked to identify the anatomical structure. Modest accuracy was observed among both cohorts. However, accuracy more than doubled for students that engaged with US outside their formal training. Our study demonstrates: 1) an inexpensive method of assessing rapid visual perception in students of US; and 2) that a combination of formal training and extracurricular engagement leads to greater visual expertise for conventional US.