Teaching neurological disorders with ultrasound: A novel workshop for medical students

• Main Authors: Varun S Shah, Maureen Cavalcanti, Seth Scheetz, David P Bahner, David L Dornbos III, Michael I Prats
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2020-01-01
• Series: Brain Circulation
• Subjects: neurology; neurosurgery; point-of-care ultrasound; undergraduate medical education
• Online Access: http://www.braincirculation.org/article.asp?issn=2394-8108;year=2020;volume=6;issue=1;spage=38;epage=46;aulast=Shah

INTRODUCTION: The goal of this study was to assess if a neurological disorder ultrasound workshop for the first-year medical students significantly enhanced the students' ability to retain and apply concepts related to neuroanatomy and neurophysiology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a prospective study to evaluate student performance before and after an optional ultrasound workshop. Data were collected through a within-population pretest–posttest design. Purposive sampling was used to recruit first-year medical students for this study. The six stations were transcranial doppler ultrasound, ocular ultrasound, ultrasound-guided external ventricular drain placement, high-intensity focused ultrasound for brain lesions, carotid artery scan with ultrasound, and ultrasound-guided central line placement. We used a pre–post workshop survey to identify opinions and perceptions about ultrasound and a pre–post workshop test to assess knowledge about neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and related ultrasound topics. RESULTS: Twenty-two 22 first-year medical students consented to participate in this study. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed a statistically significant difference in pre- and posttest scores, suggesting that participants demonstrated higher levels of medical knowledge related to neurological physiology, anatomy, and ultrasound after participating in the workshop. The analysis of the pre–post survey showed participants attributed greater value to ultrasound as a useful tool for their future medical practice after participation in the event (Z = −2.45, P = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS: There is value in integrating experiences with ultrasound into the neurological disorder block of medical school. Future studies, with a larger sample size, are needed to further explore the efficacy of this workshop in enhancing knowledge retention.