The Use of a Student Radiology Interest Group to Promote Ultrasound Education-A Single Center Experience.

Abstract

Despite the increasing use of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) across many specialities, ultrasound training in Canadian medical schools is limited. At our center, the student Radiology Interest Group (RIG) has addressed this learning need by hosting an annual workshop for diagnostic ultrasound to improve student competency in POCUS.The Ultrasound Workshop is a voluntary event offered to second-year medical students by the RIG. Feedback from each session is collected to continually improve the workshop and inform on teaching strategies. This year, we also provided an online survey to all second-year medical students that compared the competency and confidence of students who did or did not attend the workshop.Student feedback from the Ultrasound Workshop was extremely positive. Students believed it was a valuable training experience and should be incorporated into the curriculum. The Ultrasound Workshop increased student's basic understanding of ultrasound but did not affect their confidence in using POCUS compared to students who did not attend. Finally, results from the online survey demonstrated that students believe learning POCUS is necessary for their future career, but there is not enough training in the current curriculum.The Ultrasound Workshop is a useful training exercise to increase student understanding of ultrasound, but more training may be required to increase student confidence and competency. Overall, extracurricular Ultrasound Workshops coordinated by student-led RIGs can serve as successful adjuncts to the curriculum.