From Classroom to Practice: Boosting ENP Proficiency With Online POCUS Training

Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) is increasingly integrated into emergency medicine to improve clinical decision-making and patient outcomes. While POCUS training is a standard component of emergency medicine fellowship programs, training for Emergency Nurse Practitioners (ENPs) remains underdeveloped and lacks standardized competency assessment. The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) recommends online didactic training to supplement in-person sessions focused on image acquisition and interpretation. This pilot project aimed to enhance POCUS training for ENPs by incorporating ACEP's online modules into the existing ENP sonogram program. Former and current ENP students completed a confidence survey based on their sonogram skills, with former students receiving traditional in-person training and current students completing online didactic modules before their lab sessions. Results indicated a significant increase in confidence across several ultrasound applications, including Extended Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (eFAST) and echocardiograms. The addition of online training resulted in increased confidence in performing eFAST (28.57% increase), focused echocardiograms (25% increase), ocular sonograms (41.67% increase), but a decrease was seen in vascular access by 16% due to limited time spent on this exam. Students who completed the new training method demonstrated higher proficiency in performing eFAST exams on live models. Integrating online modules into ENP sonogram training is a cost-effective method for delivering didactic content, allowing more time for hands-on practice.