Point-of-Care Ultrasound (PoCUS) Low-Contact Curriculum Using Near-Peer Training and Remote Supervision

NCT06777641 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 202410061RINE
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 69
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Ultrasonography is a non-invasive, minimal-radiation tool for clinical diagnosis. Relevant clinical protocols have been developed. Recently, as the technology of ultrasonography progresses, small and portable ultrasound machines become available. The use of ultrasonography has gradually moved from the examination laboratories to the bedside. With this revolution, ultrasonography produces a tremendous paradigm shift in the diagnostic process at the bedside by clinicians. Point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) focuses on an acute problem that a patient has, trying to simplify the items of examination, shorten the time required for examination, but maximize the efficiency and accessibility. Unlike traditional ultrasound which has high learning threshold, PoCUS has become a feasible curriculum for undergraduate medical students and also post-graduate residents. However, the needs assessment, curriculum design, assessment tools of PoCUS education for medical students are scarcely reported. And the effectiveness of using new teaching skills, such as E-learning, standardized patient simulation, and high-fidelity simulators, in teaching PoCUS remains unanswered. There is also no established assessment tool for learning PoCUS in undergraduate medical education. The COVID-19 pandemic also challenges medical education, including the training of PoCUS. As a skill-based curriculum, a pure E-learning is not feasible. Therefore, an important issue is to find a way to lower the physical contact during the PoCUS training. To date, scarce study has focused on the contact time and contact density of a skill-based curriculum. The main purpose of this study is establishing a low-contact PoCUS curriculum, with incorporation of small group teaching, near-peer training (NPT) design, and remote supervision (RS). It is also mandatory to make sure the effectiveness of this new curriculum, through a competency-based assessment such as entrustable professional activity (EPA). In the second year of the project, students will be randomized into two groups, including NPT+ RS group and traditional groups, to compare the amount and intensity of contact during curriculum and the effectiveness of training through objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) between two groups.

Conditions

Educational Problems

Keywords

ultrasound; peer teaching; remote supervision

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Performance score on OSCE

  The effectiveness of the curriculum will be evaluated approximately one month after completing the PoCUS course for both the experimental and control groups, using OSCE assessments incorporating EPA constructs. The OSCE will be evaluated independently by two reviewers, with the final score calculated as the average of their individual assessments. Students' performance will be analyzed based on their total OSCE scores as well as their scores for each construct of the EPA.

  1 month

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• TAM survey

  1 month

• Survey of OSCE test

  1 month

Study Arms (2)

Experimental

EXPERIMENTAL

This group will experience lectures combined with peer instructor for hands-on training (lecture + NPT hands-on with remote supervision). The PoCUS teacher will not be physically present but will supervise remotely via video conferencing to monitor and communicate in real-time.

Other: remote supervision

Control

NO INTERVENTION

This group will follow the conventional teaching model, combining lectures with on-site PoCUS teacher supervised hands-on training (lecture + on-site teacher supervised hands-on).

Interventions

remote supervision OTHER

teacher use remote supervision to assist peer training

Experimental

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 20 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• ■Fifth- or sixth-year medical students at National Taiwan University College of Medicine, aged 20 or older.

You may not qualify if:

• Unwillingness to participate in the study.
• Prior exposure to the bedside ultrasound course at National Taiwan University College of Medicine.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Taiwan University Clinical Trial Center: lead
• National Science and Technology Council: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

National Taiwan University Hospital

Taipei, 100, Taiwan

Location

Related Publications (7)

• ten Cate O. Entrustability of professional activities and competency-based training. Med Educ. 2005 Dec;39(12):1176-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2929.2005.02341.x. No abstract available.

  PMID: 16313574 BACKGROUND

• Frenk J, Chen L, Bhutta ZA, Cohen J, Crisp N, Evans T, Fineberg H, Garcia P, Ke Y, Kelley P, Kistnasamy B, Meleis A, Naylor D, Pablos-Mendez A, Reddy S, Scrimshaw S, Sepulveda J, Serwadda D, Zurayk H. Health professionals for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world. Lancet. 2010 Dec 4;376(9756):1923-58. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61854-5. Epub 2010 Nov 26. No abstract available.

  PMID: 21112623 BACKGROUND

• Lichtenstein D, Malbrain ML. Critical care ultrasound in cardiac arrest. Technological requirements for performing the SESAME-protocol--a holistic approach. Anaesthesiol Intensive Ther. 2015;47(5):471-81. doi: 10.5603/AIT.a2015.0072. Epub 2015 Nov 18.

  PMID: 26578398 BACKGROUND

• Lichtenstein DA, Meziere GA. Relevance of lung ultrasound in the diagnosis of acute respiratory failure: the BLUE protocol. Chest. 2008 Jul;134(1):117-25. doi: 10.1378/chest.07-2800. Epub 2008 Apr 10.

  PMID: 18403664 BACKGROUND

• Shokoohi H, Boniface KS, Zaragoza M, Pourmand A, Earls JP. Point-of-care ultrasound leads to diagnostic shifts in patients with undifferentiated hypotension. Am J Emerg Med. 2017 Dec;35(12):1984.e3-1984.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2017.08.054. Epub 2017 Aug 26.

  PMID: 28851498 BACKGROUND

• Kirkpatrick AW, Sirois M, Laupland KB, Liu D, Rowan K, Ball CG, Hameed SM, Brown R, Simons R, Dulchavsky SA, Hamiilton DR, Nicolaou S. Hand-held thoracic sonography for detecting post-traumatic pneumothoraces: the Extended Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (EFAST). J Trauma. 2004 Aug;57(2):288-95. doi: 10.1097/01.ta.0000133565.88871.e4.

  PMID: 15345974 BACKGROUND

• Moore CL, Copel JA. Point-of-care ultrasonography. N Engl J Med. 2011 Feb 24;364(8):749-57. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra0909487. No abstract available.

  PMID: 21345104 BACKGROUND

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: NTUH-CTC

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 10, 2025
• First Posted: January 16, 2025
• Study Start: January 15, 2025
• Primary Completion: May 19, 2025
• Study Completion: April 14, 2026
• Last Updated: April 15, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP
• Time Frame: After publication of the study
• Access Criteria: Upon request to the principal investigator with relevant IRB consent

Locations

TW (1)