Tomasi R, Stark K, Scheiermann P. Efficacy of a certified modular ultrasound curriculum.
Anaesthesist 2020;
69:192-197. [PMID:
32055882 PMCID:
PMC7056694 DOI:
10.1007/s00101-020-00730-9]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2019] [Revised: 11/13/2019] [Accepted: 12/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Background
In recent years, ultrasound (US) has become more incorporated into anesthesia and intensive care medicine. The German Anesthesia Society established a modular curriculum to teach US skills. Until now, the efficacy of this modular curriculum has not been validated.
Objective
The main objective of this study was to determine whether there is an increase of knowledge and of psychomotor skills for the trainees in this curriculum.
Material and methods
After ethical committee approval, 41 anesthesia physicians were enrolled. To determine the increase of knowledge and of practical skills theoretical and practical tests performed were evaluated before and after two different US courses.
Results
Comparing before and after course tests, the participants showed significant improvement in theoretical multiple choice tests (p = 0.008). Regarding psychomotor skills following course 1, the trainees improved significantly in the time needed to perform the two practical tests (p = 0.03), but not in the performance of the test. Better needle visualization during simulated US-guided vessel puncture (p = 0.52) and better identification of the anatomical structures in the axillary region (p = 0.56) could not be achieved.
Conclusion
This study shows that although this US course curriculum has positively enhanced the trainees’ theoretical knowledge of US practice, it does not enhance the practical application of that theoretical knowledge. To improve this curriculum, a supervised clinically practical training should follow the course.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (10.1007/s00101-020-00730-9) provides the two questionnaires in German. The article and additional material are available at www.springermedizin.de. Please enter the title of the article in the search field, the additional material can be found under “Ergänzende Inhalte”.
![]()
Collapse