Peer-Led Point-of-Care Ultrasound; A Potential Ally to Rural Medicine

Abstract

Objectives Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is increasingly used in rural settings where it’s portability,and imaging capabilities make it effective clinically. POCUS teaching has traditionally relied on faculty instruction, which is limited by the small number of certified faculty members. The UOttawa POCUS interest group deployed peer-teaching since 2018, which overcomes the instructor barrier by employing experienced medical students to train preclerkship students. This paper will evaluate the efficacy of the peer-led POCUS workshops as a learning format. Methods 3-hour POCUS workshops were held for Cardiac, MSK, Aorta, and eFAST scans from October 2018 to June 2019. Students with prior experience in POCUS were identified as peer-teachers, and were trained by an expert physician prior to the workshop. Peer-teachers taught a small group, with physician experts rotating through groups for technical support. Surveys were sent out to students who participated in the workshops assessing the following categories:utility, learning experience,workshop efficacy, tutor competence, and interest. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis was reported for the quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. Results 45 participants completed the survey. The surveys showed positive support for the aforementioned categories, with the average score being greater than 4. From the thematic analysis, the four main strengths of the peer-led format are: Trainer competence, learner comfort, situational teaching, and opportunity to practice. Conclusion Peer-led workshops are an effective format for POCUS training in instructor-constrained settings. These workshops can be translated to rural settings in lieu of a formal POCUS training program.

Keywords

• Point-of-care ultrasound
• Innovation
• Peer-teaching
• Pre-clerkship