Background: POCUS is rapidly becoming an important tool in Hospital Medicine (HM) and is endorsed by the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM).Many medical schools and physician residency programs have recognized the clinical value of POCUS and subsequently come to incorporate competency as a core clinical skill for graduation.APP programs, however, have lagged behind with only a minority including POCUS in their curriculum despite evidence that APPs can use POCUS with high accuracy.This lack of training for APPs has been identified as key barrier to expansion of POCUS among APPs.
Purpose: To create an effective POCUS curriculum for APP students during their Hospital Medicine rotation.
Description: The authors conducted a literature review of published POCUS curricula to identify best practices in POCUS curriculum design. The following components were identified to effectively teach introductory POCUS knowledge and skills, and increase students’ confidence.Small group sessionsDidactics Hands-on practice Clear learning objectivesBuilding from identified best practices we developed a six-week curriculum for APP Students rotating through HM. Curriculum included clear learning objectives, lectures to focus on the core ultrasound concepts, and weekly hands-on 1:1 practice with US faculty to allow for real time practice and feedback.Upon completion of the curriculum participants are assessed regarding their retention of skills and interest in POCUS.
Conclusions: Preliminary ResultsFive APP students participated in the initial curriculum, all five completed pre-survey, four completed post survey. All students comfort level and perceived knowledge of POCUS increased.All students felt this education would increase their likelihood of using POCUS in the future.DiscussionWe describe a novel curriculum to train APP students in POCUS skills with the goal of giving them a foundation to build upon in subsequent clinical practice.Initial data suggests POCUS education is very effective in increasing the student’s confidence and interest in POCUS, but this is a small sample size and more data needed in future.More time hands-on scanning time needed In future would assess students’ knowledge pre and post course for objective data regarding the effectiveness of the program and retention of skills.Would also look to expand to current practicing APPs in Hospital medicine.
