Download PDF
Ultrasound Int Open 2017; 03(04): E156-E162
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-121983
Original Article
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Virtual Dissection by Ultrasound: Probe Handling in the First Year of Medical Education

Graziano Serrao
1   Università degli Studi di Milano, Department of Health Sciences, Milan, Italy
,
Massimo Tassoni
1   Università degli Studi di Milano, Department of Health Sciences, Milan, Italy
,
Alberto M. Magenta-Biasina
2   Azienda Ospedaliera San Paolo, Radiology, Milan, Italy
,
Antonio Giuseppe Mantero
3   Azienda Ospedaliera San Paolo, Via A. di Rudinì, 8, 20142, Milan, Italy., Cardiology, Milan, Italy
,
Antonino Previtera
1   Università degli Studi di Milano, Department of Health Sciences, Milan, Italy
,
Michela Crisitna Turci
2   Azienda Ospedaliera San Paolo, Radiology, Milan, Italy
,
Elia Mario Biganzoli
4   Università degli Studi di Milano, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Milan, Italy
,
Emanuela A. M. Bertolini
5   Azienda Ospedaliera San Paolo Via A. di Rudinì, 8, 20142, Milan, Italy., Epatology, Milan, Italy
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

received 30 January 2017
revised 05 September 2017

accepted 07 October 2017

Publication Date:
07 December 2017 (online)

Also available at
   Permissions and Reprints

Abstract

Objectives The aim of the present study was to assess the educational plan of first-year students of medicine by analyzing their scores in ultrasound body scanning.

Methods Since 2009, the San Paolo Medical School (Milan, Italy) has vertically integrated the study of anatomy with ultrasound-assisted virtual body dissection. Three modules were supplied: musculoskeletal system, heart and abdomen pelvis. 653 first-year students were trained. The students alternated as mutual model and operator. A skillfulness score was assigned to each student. The scores were consequently listed. Nonparametric exact multiple contrast tests were employed to determine relative group effects.

Results Statistical analysis showed that: no gender-related differences were found (0:49; p=0.769); peer learners performed less well than peer tutors (0.677; p=0); between modules, scores in the musculoskeletal system (pMS=0.726) tend to be higher (p<0.001) than those obtained in the heart and abdomen pelvis (pH=0.398; pAP=0.375 p=0.270); significant differences were found compared to the beginning of the project’s academic year.

Conclusion The students considered this didactic course an engaging and exciting approach. Acceptance of peer teaching was extraordinarily high. Autonomous exercitation allowed the students to improve self-criticism and enhance their own skills. The level of expertise obtained by peer tutors and by peer learners can be considered satisfactory. The main objective of training future physicians on personal stethoechoscope with the necessary competence seems to have been successfully started.

Key words

ultrasound - interdisciplinary medical education - curriculum development - living anatomy - peer tutor
 

  • References

  • 1 Swamy M, Searle RF. Anatomy teaching with portable ultrasound to medical students. BMC Med Educ 2012; 22: 12-99
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 2 Teichgräber UK, Meyer JM, Poulson Nautrup C, von Rautenfeld DB. Ultrasound anatomy: A practical teaching system in human gross anatomy. Med Educ 1996; 30: 296-298
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 3 Rao S, van Holsbeeck L, Musial JL, Parker A, Bouffard JA, Bridge P, Jackson M, Dulchavsky SA. A pilot study of comprehensive ultrasound education at the Wayne State University School of Medicine: A pioneer year review. J Ultrasound Med 2008; 27: 745-749
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 4 Brown B, Adhikari S, Marx J, Lander L, Todd GL. Introduction of ultrasound into gross anatomy curriculum: Perceptions of medical students. J Emerg Med 2012; 43: 1098-1102
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 5 Serrao G, Costa G, Cecchini F, Ormas M, Turci MC. Ultrasonic anatomy: A professionalizing activity. Ital J Anat Embryol 2009; 114 1 Suppl 197
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 6 Badea R. Medical education of students and residents a new paradigm?. Med Ultrason 2012; 14: 175-176
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 7 Mircea PA, Badea R, Fodor D, Buzoianu AD. Using ultrasonography as a teaching support tool in undergraduate medical education – time to reach a decision. Med Ultrason 2012; 14: 211-216
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 8 Syperda VA, Trivedi PN, Melo LC, Freeman ML, Ledermann EJ, Smith TM, Alben JO. Ultrasonography in preclinical education: a pilot study. J Am Osteopath Assoc 2008; 108: 601-605
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 9 Fowlkes JB. Bioeffects Committee of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine consensus report on potential bioeffects of diagnostic ultrasound: executive summary. J Ultrasound Med 2008; 27: 503-515
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 10 Miller DL. Safety assurance in obstetrical ultrasound. Semin Ultrasound CT MR 2008; 29: 156-164
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 11 McLachlan JC, Patten D. Anatomy teaching: Ghosts of the past, present and future. Med Educ Mar 2006; 40: 243-253
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 12 Syperda VA, Trivedi PN, Melo LC, Freeman ML, Ledermann EJ, Smith TM, Alben JO. Ultrasonography in preclinical education: a pilot study. J Am Osteopath Assoc 2008; 108: 601-605
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 13 Weyrich P, Schrauth M, Kraus B, Habermehl D, Netzhammer N, Zipfel S, Jünger J, Riessen R, Nikendei C. Undergraduate technical skills training guided by student tutor – Analysis of tutors’ attitude, tutees’ acceptance and learning progress in an innovative teaching model. BMC Med Educ 2008; 8: 18-27
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 14 Glynn LG, MacFarlane A, Kelly M, Cantillon P, Murphy AW. Helping each other to learn a process evaluation of peer assisted learning. BMC Med Educ 2006; 6: 18-27
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 15 Knobe M, Münker R, Sellei RM, Holschen M, Mooij SC, Schmidt-Rohlfing B, Niethard FU, Pape HC. Peer teaching: a randomised controlled trial using student-teachers to teach musculoskeletal ultrasound. Med Educ 2010; 44: 148-155
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 16 Butter J, Grant TH, Egan M, Kaye M, Wayne DB, Carrión-Carire V, McGaghie WC. Does ultrasound training boost Year 1 medical student competence and confidence when learning abdominal examination?. Med Educ 2007; 41: 843-848
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 17 Tixa S. Atlas of Surface Palpation. Anatomy of the neck, trunk, upper and lower limbs. Second Edition Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2008
    Google Scholar
  • 18 Tshibwabwa ET, Groves HM, Levine MA. Teaching musculoskeletal ultrasound in the undergraduate medical curriculum. Med Educ 2007; 41: 517-518
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 19 Edwards WD, Tajik AJ, Seward JB. Standardized nomenclature and anatomic basis for regional tomographic analysis of the heart. Mayo Clin Proc 1981; 56: 479-497
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 20 Waller BF, Taliercio CP, Slack JD, Orr CM, Howard J, Smith ML. Tomographic views of normal and abnormal hearts: The anatomic basis for various cardiac imaging techniques. Part I. Clin Cardiol 1990; 13: 804-812
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 21 Lafortune M, Madore F, Patriquin H, Breton G. Segmental anatomy of the liver: A sonographic approach to the Couinaud nomenclature. Radiology 1991; 181: 443-448
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 22 Skandalakis JE, Skandalakis LJ, Skandalakis PN, Mirilas P. Hepatic surgical anatomy. Surg Clin North Am 2004; 84: 413-435
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 23 Lafortune M, Denys A, Sauvanet A, Schmidt S. Anatomy of the liver: What you need to know. J Radiol 2007; 88: 1020-1035
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 24 Heinzow HS, Friederichs H, Lenz P, Schmedt A, Becker JC, Hengst K, Marschall B, Domagk D. Teaching ultrasound in a curricular course according to certified EFSUMB standards during undergraduate medical education: A prospective study. BMC Med Educ 2013; 11: 13-84
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 25 Colbert-Getz JM, Tackett S, Wright SM, Shochet RS. Does academic performance or personal growth share a stronger association with learning environment perception?. Int J Med Educ. 2016; 7: 274-278
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 26 Konietschke F, Placzek M, Schaarschmidt F, Hothorn LA. An R Software package for nonparametric multiple comparisons and simultaneous confidence intervals. J Stat Soft 2015; 64: 1-17
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 27 Sykes Tottenham L, Saucier DM, Elias LJ, Gutwin C. Men are more accurate than women in aiming at targets in both near space and extrapersonal space. Percept Mot Skills 2005; 101: 3-12
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 28 Moreno-Briseño P, Díaz R, Campos-Romo A, Fernandez-Ruiz J. Sex-related differences in motor learning and performance. Behav Brain Funct 2010; 6: 74
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 29 Kolozsvari NO, Andalib A, Kaneva P, Cao J, Vassiliou MC, Fried GM, Feldman LS. Sex is not everything: the role of gender in early performance of a fundamental laparoscopic skill. Surg Endosc. 2011; 25: 1037-1042
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 30 Thorson CM, Kelly JP, Forse RA, Turaga KK. Can we continue to ignore gender differences in performance on simulation trainers?. J Laparoendosc Adv Surg Tech A. 2011; 21: 329-333
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 31 Krych AJ, March CN, Bryan RE, Peake BJ, Pawlina W, Carmichael SW. Reciprocal peer teaching: Students teaching students in the gross anatomy laboratory. Clin Anat 2005; 18: 296-301
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 32 Blohm M, Krautter M, Lauter J, Huber J, Weyrich P, Herzog W, Jünger J, Nikendei C. Voluntary undergraduate technical skills training course to prepare students for clerkship assignment: tutees' and tutors' perspectives. BMC Med Educ 2014; 14: 71
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 33 Wong I, Jayatilleke T, Kendall R, Atkinson P. Feasibility of a focused ultrasound training programme for medical undergraduate students. Clin Teach 2011; 8: 3-7
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 34 Cantisani V, Dietrich CF, Badea R, Dudea S, Prosch H, Cerezo E, Nuernberg D, Serra AL, Sidhu PS, Radzina M, Piscaglia F, Bachmann Nielsen M, Ewertsen C, Săftoiu A, Calliada F, Gilja OH. Ultrasound Int Open. 2016; 2: E2-E7
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 35 Fodor D, Badea R, Poanta L, Dumitrascu DL, Buzoianu AD, Mircea PA. The use of ultrasonography in learning clinical examination – a pilot study involving third year medical students. Med Ultrason 2012; 14: 177-181
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 36 Buckley S, Zamora J. Effects of participation in a cross year peer tutoring programme in clinical examination skills on volunteer tutors’ skills and attitudes toward teacher and teaching. BMC Med Educ 2007; 7: 20-29
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar