Effectiveness of Near-Peer Versus Faculty Point-of-Care Ultrasound Instruction to Third-Year Medical Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24908/pocus.v7i2.15746Keywords:
Point of Care Ultrasound, medical student, Medical Education, near peer education, ultrasound curriculumAbstract
Background: Incorporation of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in undergraduate medical education (UME) is expanding; however, its effective implementation is impeded by a lack of trained faculty. Recruitment of near-peer (NP) instructors is a potential solution, but there are concerns surrounding NP teaching effectiveness compared to faculty instruction. While some institutions have assessed supplemental NP instruction, or NP-taught sessions with strict faculty supervision, few if any have compared effectiveness of NP POCUS instruction alone to faculty instruction through a multi-dimensional assessment. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of near-peer (NP) instruction to faculty instruction at an undergraduate medical education clinical POCUS session for third-year medical students. Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial where third-year medical students were assigned to one of two groups for a 90-minute POCUS session: NP instruction or faculty instruction. A pre- and post-session multiple-choice test and a post-session objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) were administered to assess conceptual and hands-on clinical POCUS knowledge gained. Students’ perceptions of the instructors and session were evaluated using a Likert scale. Results: Seventy-three students (66% of the class) participated; 36 taught by faculty and 37 by NP instructors. Both groups showed a significant score increase from pre-test to post-test (p =0.002); however, there was no significant difference between groups in post-test (p=0.27) nor OSCE scores (p=0.20). Student perceptions of instructor competency were not statistically significant. Conclusions: NP instructors were as effective at teaching clinical POCUS to third-year medical students as faculty instructors at our institution.
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Katie Rong, Grace Lee, Meghan Herbst
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Author(s) retain the copyright for their work. At the time of submission to POCUS Journal the author(s) grant the journal a limited and non revokable right to publish in the Journal under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.