Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography : official publication of the American Society of Echocardiography
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J Am Soc Echocardiogr · Mar 2014
Development and evaluation of methodologies for teaching focused cardiac ultrasound skills to medical students.
Handheld ultrasound is emerging as an important tool for point-of-care cardiac assessment. Although cardiac ultrasound skills are traditionally introduced during postgraduate training, the optimal time and methodology to initiate training in focused cardiac ultrasound (FCU) are unknown. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a novel curriculum for training medical students in the use of FCU. ⋯ Third-year medical students were able to acquire FCU image acquisition and interpretation skills after a novel training program. Self-directed electronic modules are effective for teaching introductory FCU interpretation skills, while expert-guided training is important for developing scanning technique.