Effectiveness and Learner Perception of a Gamified Distance-Learning Program for Point-of-Care Ultrasound

Objectives The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted in-person medical school teaching, and certain parts of the curriculum were disproportionately affected, including traditional hands-on training in point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). It is challenging to find interactive methods for teaching POCUS while conveying image acquisition techniques via online video-conference platforms for distance learning. Our objective was to evaluate the effectiveness and learners perceptions of POCUS gamification distance learning. Methods This was a cross-sectional study at an academic center. Study participants were third-year medical students (MS3) with minimal ultrasound experience. A pre-test was administered. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) fellowship-trained emergency medicine (EM) faculty gave an online 1-h review lecture on basic POCUS applications and ran an online POCUS Pictionary session, where a student was randomly chosen to illustrate a POCUS topic. After each turn, the instructor reviewed teaching points. Students completed a post-test and survey. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Survey responses were reported as percentages of total respondents with 95% confidence intervals, and a two-sample t-test was performed to determine the statistical significance of pre- and post-test performances. Results A total of 73 students completed the pre-test, post-test, and survey. The average pre-test score was 53.3% (±15.9%), and the post-test score was 84.0% (±13.2%). Performance improvement was statistically significant (p<0.001). Before the sessions, students had the lowest familiarity with Extended Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (eFAST), peripheral nerves, and soft-tissue ultrasound. After the sessions, the majority of students reported being more confident in performing almost all the reviewed applications. The vast majority (90.4%) stated that if possible, they would prefer in-person hands-on sessions for POCUS training. Conclusion Medical students' POCUS knowledge improved significantly after a didactics session and a gamified point-of-care ultrasound distance-learning session. Although the sessions increased their confidence in image acquisition and interpretation, students preferred in-person, hands-on training and practice when given the opportunity.