BACKGROUND: Ultrasound is increasingly recognized as a valuable addition to medical school curriculum. PURPOSE: In this study, we tested the ability of rising second year students to learn and conduct an ultrasound examination of vertical liver span at the point of care. METHODS:Six patients from a GI clinic volunteered to have their liver size measured. Ten students were trained to measure vertical liver span with ultrasound. Four physicians were recruited to measure liver span with standard methods. Student and physician measurements were compared to each other and to a reference ultrasound measurement for accuracy and variability. RESULTS: Compared to the reference, students overestimated liver size an average of 1.5 cm. Physicians underestimated liver size an average of 6.7 cm. Variance in student measurements for each patient was 10% to 17% and among physicians 20% to 50%. CONCLUSION: With limited instruction and clinical experience medical students can obtain liver size measurements with ultrasound that are more accurate and have less variability than those by physicians using physical examination. Given the ease with which students can learn to use ultrasound and the teaching and clinical value of ultrasound, ultrasound should be considered as a standard of medical education in the future.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: Ultrasound is increasingly recognized as a valuable addition to medical school curriculum. PURPOSE: In this study, we tested the ability of rising second year students to learn and conduct an ultrasound examination of vertical liver span at the point of care. METHODS: Six patients from a GI clinic volunteered to have their liver size measured. Ten students were trained to measure vertical liver span with ultrasound. Four physicians were recruited to measure liver span with standard methods. Student and physician measurements were compared to each other and to a reference ultrasound measurement for accuracy and variability. RESULTS: Compared to the reference, students overestimated liver size an average of 1.5 cm. Physicians underestimated liver size an average of 6.7 cm. Variance in student measurements for each patient was 10% to 17% and among physicians 20% to 50%. CONCLUSION: With limited instruction and clinical experience medical students can obtain liver size measurements with ultrasound that are more accurate and have less variability than those by physicians using physical examination. Given the ease with which students can learn to use ultrasound and the teaching and clinical value of ultrasound, ultrasound should be considered as a standard of medical education in the future.
Authors: Diana J Kelm; John T Ratelle; Nabeel Azeem; Sara L Bonnes; Andrew J Halvorsen; Amy S Oxentenko; Anjali Bhagra Journal: J Grad Med Educ Date: 2015-09
Authors: Nina Kolbe; Keith Killu; Victor Coba; Luca Neri; Kathleen M Garcia; Marti McCulloch; Alberta Spreafico; Scott Dulchavsky Journal: J Ultrasound Date: 2014-09-20
Authors: Garrett Newton Andersen; Annja Viset; Ole Christian Mjølstad; Oyvind Salvesen; Håvard Dalen; Bjørn Olav Haugen Journal: BMC Med Educ Date: 2014-07-28 Impact factor: 2.463
Authors: Richard A Hoppmann; Victor V Rao; Floyd Bell; Mary Beth Poston; Duncan B Howe; Shaun Riffle; Stephen Harris; Ruth Riley; Carol McMahon; L Britt Wilson; Erika Blanck; Nancy A Richeson; Lynn K Thomas; Celia Hartman; Francis H Neuffer; Brian D Keisler; Kerry M Sims; Matthew D Garber; C Osborne Shuler; Michael Blaivas; Shawn A Chillag; Michael Wagner; Keith Barron; Danielle Davis; James R Wells; Donald J Kenney; Jeffrey W Hall; Paul H Bornemann; David Schrift; Patrick S Hunt; William B Owens; R Stephen Smith; Allison G Jackson; Kelsey Hagon; Steven P Wilson; Stanley D Fowler; James F Catroppo; Ali A Rizvi; Caroline K Powell; Thomas Cook; Eric Brown; Fernando A Navarro; Joshua Thornhill; Judith Burgis; William R Jennings; James B McCallum; James M Nottingham; James Kreiner; Robert Haddad; James R Augustine; Norman W Pedigo; Paul V Catalana Journal: Crit Ultrasound J Date: 2015-11-21