Abstract Manager

Dedicated Poster

LP15 - 05

Accept

I declare I have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this program.

yes

General Call (Workshop, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)

Poster

Education Innovation

Jr. Faculty (less than 5 years in practice)

The Early Introduction of Ultrasound in Undergraduate Medicine

At UBC, we have updated our ultrasound curriculum over the past two years to include an innovative early introduction to ultrasound program.  We have implemented strategies to deal with challenges in uptake and faculty recruitment across our main campus in Vancouver and distributed medical education (DME) sites.  

The ultrasound curriculum at UBC has expanded over the past 2 years, driven by the literature that demonstrates the importance of early exposure alongside a desire from learners.  Recently, recommendations from the Canadian Ultrasound Consensus for Undergraduate Medical Education Group have described the growing importance of this curriculum. At UBC, our current curricular suite includes 6 ultrasound sessions and 2 ultrasound lectures.  The expansion has included the addition of introductory abdominal, cardiac, and volume assessment sessions. These sessions occur during the first year, in the first term of our Clinical Skills program using hypothesis-driven technique as an extension of the physical exam.  This was born from a desire to increase the overall number of scanning opportunities from 3 to 6, to increase exposure and comfort point of care ultrasound (POCUS). Student and faculty feedback was extremely useful in fine-tuning these sessions. Additional teaching support was obtained through faculty development sessions that were run at each of our DME sites. This consisted of an expert-facilitated session with an opportunity to provide an ultrasound curriculum refresher for faculty as well as ongoing mentorship. Recruitment for the next semester's teaching sessions was completed in record time. 

Students now have 6 different opportunities to scan during their preclinical years with future plans to have learners acquire images independently. Tutor recruitment is complete months in advance with high quality tutors. These interventions will better prepare our students to scan in clerkship and residency.

Ultrasound

POCUS

Undergraduate Medical Education

Undergraduate

Teaching and learning

Undergraduate

Distributed Medical Education

Faculty Development

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes