title: Ultrafest: a novel approach to ultrasound in medical education leads to improvement in written and clinical examinations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Our objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of hands-on training at a bedside ultrasound (US) symposium ("Ultrafest") to improve both clinical knowledge and image acquisition skills of medical students. Primary outcome measure was improvement in multiple choice questions on pulmonary or Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST) US knowledge. Secondary outcome was improvement in image acquisition for either pulmonary or FAST.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective cohort study of 48 volunteers at "Ultrafest," a free symposium where students received five contact training hours. Students were evaluated before and after training for proficiency in either pulmonary US or FAST. Proficiency was assessed by clinical knowledge through written multiple-choice exam, and clinical skills through accuracy of image acquisition. We used paired sample t-tests with students as their own controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pulmonary knowledge scores increased by a mean of 10.1 points (95% CI [8.9-11.3], p<0.00005), from 8.4 to a posttest average of 18.5/21 possible points. The FAST knowledge scores increased by a mean of 7.5 points (95% CI [6.3-8.7] p<0.00005), from 8.1 to a posttest average of 15.6/21. We analyzed clinical skills data on 32 students. The mean score was 1.7 pretest and 4.7 posttest of 12 possible points. Mean improvement was 3.0 points (p<0.00005) overall, 3.3 (p=0.0001) for FAST, and 2.6 (p=0.003) for the pulmonary US exam.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that a symposium on US can improve clinical knowledge, but is limited in achieving image acquisition for pulmonary and FAST US assessments. US training external to official medical school curriculum may augment students' education.
authors: University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Irvine, California.
authors: Kiah
authors: K
authors: Connolly
authors: University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Irvine, California.
authors: Lancelot
authors: L
authors: Beier
authors: University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Irvine, California.
authors: Mark I
authors: MI
authors: Langdorf
authors: University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Irvine, California.
authors: Craig L
authors: CL
authors: Anderson
authors: University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Irvine, California.
authors: John C
authors: JC
authors: Fox
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014481:United States; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*