SpacED POCUS: A Randomized Controlled Trial of an Adaptive Spaced Education POCUS Curriculum for Medical Students

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)
• Adaptive Learning Technologies

Background:

• Medical students require robust training in Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) image interpretation.
• Traditional POCUS education methods may face challenges in ensuring long-term knowledge retention and engagement.
• Adaptive spaced education (spacED) presents a novel approach to medical training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness, retention, engagement, and acceptability of spacED for POCUS image interpretation among medical students.
• To compare the learning outcomes of POCUS interpretation using spacED versus a control condition.
• To assess the long-term impact of spacED on POCUS knowledge retention.

Main Methods:

• A randomized study involving 36 medical students from July 2022 to May 2023.
• Students were assigned 50 unique POCUS cases (cardiac/vascular or lung/FAST) and used spacED.
• Effectiveness, six-month retention, engagement (case completion), and acceptability were measured.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements were observed in FAST (+18%), lung (+25%), and vascular (+23%) POCUS interpretation scores (p<0.01).
• Six-month retention for FAST (+3%) and lung (-10%) scores showed no significant decline.
• High acceptability was reported, with 96% of students willing to participate again.

Conclusions:

• SpacED is an effective method for enhancing medical students' POCUS interpretation accuracy.
• The spacED approach facilitates long-lasting knowledge retention for specific POCUS applications.
• Despite incomplete case completion, spacED shows promise as an acceptable and effective POCUS training modality.