Integration of Ultrasound skills in the training of new age Medical students

Aims of the study: 1. To identify the challenges in integrating the ultrasound skills in the Medical education curriculum settings. 2. To arrive at recommendations in integrating ultrasound skills to new age Medical... [ view full abstract ]

Aims of the study:

1. To identify the challenges in integrating the ultrasound skills in the Medical education curriculum settings.
2. To arrive at recommendations in integrating ultrasound skills to new age Medical students
3. To make effective and efficient clinical assessments and the role of ultrasound towards the same.

The making of a Physician involves the learning of the sum total of the different aspects of care at a clinical level. The journey towards this competency build up is extensive and can even be described as complicated. The fundamental mandatory competency of a basic Physician is to assess and diagnose with certainty and manage the clinical condition appropriately. To diagnose is to assess the clinical condition and arrive at definitive diagnosis or the most probable differentials. To manage is to treat effectively at the primary level or to refer to appropriate clinical expertise person.

Traditionally the clinical evaluation revolves around History taking, Inspection, palpation, percussion, auscultation and the appropriate level of investigations to arrive at a diagnosis. As this remains the same as ever, the additions of newer investigations in the armamentariums of a clinician, the methods of clinical evaluation are getting redefined. As always, the assessment and diagnosis forms the corner stone of any clinical care situation. The first point of care is the most crucial in this regard. Ultrasound as a tool is of immense utility here. Without doubt it adds to the diagnostic confidence. With its development, in modern initial clinical evaluation setting, sonopalpation has become the fifth skill in action along with other point of care assessments like one touch blood sugar investigation.

While ultrasound as a technology has matured enough to be used as a highly optimized hand held device for clinical assessment, the trainings towards the use of the same at the basic level is far from reality. Worldwide, there had been many attempts to integrate the ultrasound teaching into the respective curriculums.

The various aspects of the learning of ultrasound for a Medical Professional are getting redefined. At one stage stage ultrasound was regarded a highly specialized imaging modality which required great deal of training and expertise to use it optimally. Even though the skill of the user is very much operator dependent, it has moved from a strictly high end imaging modality to a hand held tool which can also be used as a primary screening imaging tool. With this development, the clinical value of ultrasound at the point of care has seen unmatched results. Every Medical student is always seen as a primary care Physician (Basic Doctor) in the making to begin with. The big question here is when, where and how to develop the essential ultrasound skills to the New age Medical students.
Comprehensive evaluations of the various current ultrasound teaching and learning methods are analyzed. The basic expected competency of a new medical graduate and the dynamics of global clinical care services are discussed in the study.
The aim of this paper is to assess comprehensively the present level of ultrasound learning in the development of a Physician worldwide. The paper also aims to come out with the most possible seamless way of learning the art and science of ultrasound evaluation during the formative years of a medical student. The focus is on the effective and efficient way of learning. It is significant to define the content of the ultrasound course and time the course delivery appropriately as medical school learning content in general is exhaustive in nature.
The role of hand held ultrasound is likely to further grow in stature with point of care services being provided in home care settings in many countries. Technology is assisting here in several dimensions like miniaturization, powerful handheld devices and development of multitude of application.
At the same time the future directions of patient care is also kept in mind and the alignment of ultrasound learning towards this is addressed. For example, like ultrasound has transformed from a specialized modality to a simple hand held tool for evaluation, endoscopic assessment is taking a similar path. Ultrasound integrated assessment along with endoscopic evaluation (Endoscopic ultrasound) seems to head towards primary evaluation setting as the technology and training matures.