P1046 - Increased Skills in Ultrasound Knowledge Among Residents Through Focused Ultrasound Training

Grace E. Kim, MD¹, Daniel G. Hwang, MD^2
1University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD; ²University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Introduction: Ultrasound is becoming increasingly popular in modern medicine owing to its widespread versatility in diagnostic and therapeutic approach. Both medical schools and residencies across different fields have started to incorporate ultrasound education in their curriculum and have shown to augment learning as well as accuracy of various procedures with focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) exam, point-of-care echocardiogram, central line placement, and paracentesis to name a few. However, there is no formalized teaching on ultrasound in undergraduate or graduate medical education. This study delineates practicability and effectiveness of ultrasound education in residency.

Methods: This study has been exempted by the University of Maryland’s institutional review board. A third-year internal medicine resident who had prior ultrasound education in medical school developed a PowerPoint presentation on the basics of ultrasound with a focus on hepatobiliary ultrasound. Internal medicine residents at University of Maryland Medical Center were recruited on a voluntary basis for a single 45-minute session on ultrasound teaching with a 15-question pre- and post-session tests. The post-test also included one more question to gauge the residents’ comfort level on ultrasound compared to before the session using a Likert scale. Their responses to the tests were analyzed by t-test using Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, USA).

Results: 17 residents participated in this study. Majority of the residents (9/17; 53%) were interns. Table 1 describes number of correct responses for each individual. The average pre-test score for an individual was 53.7 ± 6.9% while that of the post-test was 89.4 ± 6.7%, p < 0.001. At the end of the session, 13 of 17 (76.5%) residents felt more comfortable with ultrasound, and the remaining 4 of 17 (23.5%) felt much more comfortable with ultrasound.

Discussion: Just one 45-minute educational session on ultrasound enhanced residents’ knowledge and comfort level on ultrasound. This in turn has significant clinical implications for more efficient and effective patient care. This study shows that incorporating ultrasound teaching in graduate medical education is feasible and has a favorable outcome. More standardized ultrasound curriculum that can provide repeated exposure in ultrasound can potentially strengthen the breadth of residents’ training and enhance patient care.



Disclosures:


Grace E. Kim, MD¹, Daniel G. Hwang, MD². P1046 - Increased Skills in Ultrasound Knowledge Among Residents Through Focused Ultrasound Training, ACG 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts. Las Vegas, Nevada: American College of Gastroenterology.