Abdominal, thoracic, and cardiac point-of-care ultrasound skills following an in-person hands-on training course for early-track emergency clinicians.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: This study was designed to assess baseline compared to three months procedural skills performing abdominal, thoracic, and cardiac point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) after POCUS training. METHODS: A POCUS training was designed as a 3-hour online course, followed by a 2-day in-person course consisting of 3.5 hours of case-based lectures and 4 hours of hands-on laboratory on anesthetized dogs each day. In-person procedural assessment was performed using an anesthetized dog and consisted of identifying 22 anatomical structures in 6 minutes. The assessment was performed pre-course and repeated three months post-course in an identical environment. RESULTS: Fifty-six veterinarians from the Veterinary Emergency Group New ER Doctor program were enrolled. Participants identified an overall 7.8 &#xb1; 2.6 structures in the pre-course assessment, compared to 13.8 &#xb1; 5.9 in the post-course assessment (< 0.0001). For abdominal POCUS, participants identified 5.9 &#xb1; 1.9 structures out of 12 in the pre-course and 9.0&#xb1;1.5 in the post-course assessment (< 0.0001). For thoracic POCUS, participants identified 1.7 &#xb1; 1.2 structures out of 4 in the pre-course and 3.4&#xb1;0.7 in the post-course assessment (< 0.0001). For cardiac POCUS, participants identified 0.07 &#xb1; 0.3 structures out of 6 pre and 1.5&#xb1;1.6 post-course assessment (< 0.0001). There was no impact of pre-course tested variables on the pre-course score. Survey-based course satisfaction was 100%. DISCUSSION: The Veterinary Emergency Group New ER Doctor POCUS course improved participants' ability to correctly identify anatomical structures on POCUS when assessed three months after the course.