title: Competency Assessment in Senior Emergency Medicine Residents for Core Ultrasound Skills.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quality resident education in point-of-care ultrasound (POC US) is becoming increasingly important in emergency medicine (EM); however, the best methods to evaluate competency in graduating residents has not been established. We sought to design and implement a rigorous assessment of image acquisition and interpretation in POC US in a cohort of graduating residents at our institution.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated nine senior residents in both image acquisition and image interpretation for five core US skills (focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST), aorta, echocardiogram (ECHO), pelvic, central line placement). Image acquisition, using an observed clinical skills exam (OSCE) directed assessment with a standardized patient model. Image interpretation was measured with a multiple-choice exam including normal and pathologic images.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Residents performed well on image acquisition for core skills with an average score of 85.7% for core skills and 74% including advanced skills (ovaries, advanced ECHO, advanced aorta). Residents scored well but slightly lower on image interpretation with an average score of 76%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Senior residents performed well on core POC US skills as evaluated with a rigorous assessment tool. This tool may be developed further for other EM programs to use for graduating resident evaluation.
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Emergency Medicine, Madison, Wisconsin.
authors.forename: Jessica N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Denver Health Medical Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, Denver, Colorado.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kendall
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Denver, Colorado.
authors.forename: Courtney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Smalley
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014481:United States