Ultrasound has
always been a bit of a black box for me. Aside from a handful of radiology
lectures in preclerkship, our exposure has been limited to periodic
opportunities during clerkship rotations. Given the increasing use of
ultrasound for various applications at the bedside, these skills will be
important to have in the future.
This past
Thursday we had the opportunity to spend and hour with Dr. Cavalcanti in the
simulation lab at Toronto Western learning how to use the ultrasound maching, utilize
ultrasound guidance for paracentesis, and identify anatomical structures in the
abdomen.
We started with
how to use the machine itself, a simple place to start, but something that I
had not been taught explicitly yet. We learned how to change probes, change the type of exam, and modify the depth and gain. We then moved on to using the machine to
detect pockets of fluid in a model of an ascitic abdomen. I have seen
ultrasound used to do this on a real patient, and the model offered a better
than expected simulation of the abdomen.
We then used a fairly advanced ultrasound simulation model to identify fluid
in Morrison’s pouch and in the splenorenal recess. The simulation was able to render both the
ultrasound image and a 3-D animated image of the anatomy in real time, which is
a fantastic way to teach trainees about how to visualize the structures they’re
seeing on the ultrasound machine. Clinical teaching about ascites was
interspersed throughout the session.
I did a PubMed
search about ultrasound teaching and simulation after the session and came
across an interesting tidbit in a recent article. Coincidentally, a study was
recently published in Medical Education that
examined whether training in pairs was non-inferior to training an
individual. In “The effect of dyad versus individual simulation-based ultrasound
training on skills transfer” thirty learners were randomized to receive
training on transvaginal ultrasound simulators either individually or taking
turns in pairs. Participants were final
year medical students completed a pre-test, training, and post-test. They were
then evaluated performing an ultrasound examination of the uterus, lateral
pelvic wall, and pouch of Douglas. In
the end the results showed that training in pairs was non-inferior to training
as an individual, which could make training in the future more time-efficient
and cheaper. On an individual level, I didn't feel that taking turns with my colleague during the training session we had on Thursday had any tangible drawback- it was a great session using fantastic technology.
-SR
No comments:
Post a Comment