Clinician Led Point of Care Ultrasound Workshops for Anatomy Instruction: A Pilot Study

Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) has an expanding role in clinical practice and medical education. However, evidence for the impact of clinician-led POCUS training on anatomy comprehension and student comfort with POCUS remains limited.

We aimed to determine whether clinician-led POCUS training in pre-clinical medical school curricula improved students' performance on anatomy assessments and confidence using ultrasound.

This staggered cohort study was granted exempt status by the VCOM IRB (# 2023-052). Pre-clinical students were randomized into 2 groups. Both groups underwent a baseline test and an "Introduction to POCUS" session, followed by staggered sessions on abdominal, shoulder, and cardiac POCUS including didactic and hands-on components. After each of these staggered sessions, quizzes compared the knowledge of students who received POCUS against those who had not. Finally, the students repeated the baseline test and subjective evaluations of the use of POCUS. Multiple "free scan" workshops were available during the study. Pearson's chi-square test was used to compare the knowledge assessments, and Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test was used to compare ordinal scores.

Between-group differences in percent correct were statistically significant in 2 questions (curved probe indication and probe marker orientation). The Total Score results achieved statistical significance (Pre: 4.41 ± 1.66, post: 6.41 ± 1.97, p = 0.0005). Q10a, an ordinal question that gauged participants' comfort in utilizing ultrasounds in clinical practice, also achieved statistical significance (Pre: 2.31 ± 1.20, post: 3.69 ± 0.87, p = 0.0018).

Integrating clinician-led POCUS workshops into pre-clinical curricula was associated with greater comfort using ultrasound in clinical settings and a trend toward improved anatomy knowledge even though gains were inconsistent. These findings support earlier POCUS exposure in pre-clinical education; longer studies and larger cohorts are needed to assess the durability of learning and transfer of skills to clinical settings.