Medical students may not need to wait for a residency or fellowship to gain experience with ultrasound. They could become familiar with the modality long before graduation, according to a study presented at the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine meeting in June.
Medical students may not need to wait for a residency or fellowship to gain experience with ultrasound. They could become familiar with the modality long before graduation, according to a study presented at the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine meeting in June.
While interest in diagnostic ultrasound is waning within radiology, clinical applications in other specialties are growing. Ultrasound advocates fear, however, that insufficiently trained clinicians are taking up ultrasound probes, and little information is available about whether they received adequate training early in their careers.
Dr. David Bahner and colleagues at Ohio State University compared the ultrasound skills of medical students who had extracurricular exposure to diagnostic ultrasound with those whose ultrasound training was sketchy. The investigators found that students who had had specialized education performed several diagnostic ultrasound tests more confidently than those who had not.
Bahner's group surveyed 203 students. Thirty-seven had enrolled in an extracurricular course on evidence-based learning (EBL) that exposed first-year students to focused diagnostic ultrasound. The remaining 166 did not take the course.
Students completed an online survey in which they reported the number of hours of ultrasound training they had received during their education and rated on a scale of one to 10 their comfort level in performing a series of tasks. The tasks included detection of:
The EBL and non-EBL groups recorded 16.6 versus 3.07 hours of didactic learning and 16.25 versus 2.25 hours of hands-on ultrasound training, respectively. The two groups' comfort scores for diagnostic tests revealed statistically significant differences favoring EBL students. Of the EBL students, 95% said they felt comfortable detecting cardiac motion with ultrasound as opposed to 40.4% of non-EBL students.
EBL students registered significantly higher confidence in detecting pericardial effusion and measuring aortic size, and they reported higher overall comfort levels using ultrasound. The study authors proposed that future research should concentrate on the practical skills of medical students learning ultrasound, which can be successfully integrated into medical school education.
For more information from the Diagnostic Imaging archives:
MSK ultrasound shows signs of neglect
Leading Breast Radiologists Discuss the USPSTF Breast Cancer Screening Recommendations
May 17th 2024In recognition of National Women’s Health Month, Dana Bonaminio, MD, Amy Patel, MD, and Stacy Smith-Foley, MD, shared their thoughts and perspectives on the recently updated breast cancer screening recommendations from the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).
The Reading Room: Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Cancer Screenings, and COVID-19
November 3rd 2020In this podcast episode, Dr. Shalom Kalnicki, from Montefiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses the disparities minority patients face with cancer screenings and what can be done to increase access during the pandemic.
Appealing Prior Authorization Denials: Can it be Effective for Emerging Technologies?
May 14th 2024While radiologists and other providers may be discouraged by insurer denials saying the use of a technological advance is “unproven and investigational,” 82 percent of appeals for prior authorization denials were approved in 2021.
Current Insights and Emerging Roles for Contrast-Enhanced Mammography
May 10th 2024In a recent lecture at the 2024 ARRS Annual Meeting, Jordana Phillips, MD, discussed the role of contrast-enhanced mammography in staging breast cancer, evaluating response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and recalls from screening.