Ultrasound Curriculum Integration Review and a Survey of its Utility in Regional Medical Campuses

to guide procedures. As the technology becomes more portable and affordable, schools have increasingly utilized this technology in training physicians. Ultrasonography may be especially useful in rural settings to fill the limitations that rural hospitals have in terms of imaging. The mission of many regional medical campuses is to train physicians to work in rural or underserved communities. Given this goal, we wanted to explore how regional medical campuses are utilizing ultrasound preclinically and determine the best approach for developing a standardized ultrasound curriculum, keeping regional medical campus resources in mind. A literature review of medical schools’ preclinical ultrasound curriculum was completed, and information was collected regarding curriculum programming, faculty, assessment, and student feedback. Based on data from this search, a fourteen question Qualtrics survey was sent out to regional medical campuses with questions regarding the use of ultrasound in their own preclinical curriculum. Of the 11 campuses that responded, 10 (90.9%) indicated that they include ultrasound in their curriculum. Respondents from nine of these schools progressed through the survey and information regarding topics covered in ultrasound curriculum, teachers of curriculum, patients used, ultrasound equipment used, and assessment of student knowledge all varied among medical campuses. The data suggested that regional medical campuses are focusing on similar aspects of ultrasound curriculum however, a standardized curriculum does not currently exist to ensure that all students are receiving similar ultrasound training.

possibilities of information technology in higher education

The conception of modernization of higher medical education in Ukraine is focused on the model of training physicians who have a broad outlook, able to integrate their potential into the activities of all medical workers, meet the current level of medical science and society, capable of self-improvement and self-development using innovative information technologies. The modern health care system is in need of specialists capable of continuous professional growth and self-improvement. The aim of the article is the formation of future physicians self-by means of information technology (IT). In the article review importance of IT in the professional activities of doctors, the prospects for the development of computer technology; formation and development of the knowledge base, skills and abilities necessary for the effective use of modern programs; development of the ability to independently master software and update and integrate the acquired knowledge. In a modern information society that is constantly evolving, it is important to develop the skills of IT skills among future doctors to make important decisions.

The Development of Future Physicians Self-Improvement by Means of Information Technology

The conception of modernization of higher medical education in Ukraine is focused on the model of training physicians who have a broad outlook, able to integrate their potential into the activities of all medical workers, meet the current level of medical science and society, capable of self-improvement and self-development using innovative information technologies. The modern health care system is in need of specialists capable of continuous professional growth and self-improvement. The aim of the article is the formation of future physicians self-by means of information technology (IT). In the article review importance of IT in the professional activities of doctors, the prospects for the development of computer technology; formation and development of the knowledge base, skills and abilities necessary for the effective use of modern programs; development of the ability to independently master software and update and integrate the acquired knowledge. In a modern information society that is constantly evolving, it is important to develop the skills of IT skills among future doctors to make important decisions.

Lung ultrasound training and evaluation for proficiency among physicians in a low-resource setting

Background Lung ultrasound (LUS) is helpful for the evaluation of patients with dyspnea in the emergency department (ED). However, it remains unclear how much training and how many LUS examinations are needed for ED physicians to obtain proficiency. The objective of this study was to determine the threshold number of LUS physicians need to perform to achieve proficiency for interpreting LUS on ED patients with dyspnea. Methods A prospective study was performed at Patan Hospital in Nepal, evaluating proficiency of physicians novice to LUS. After eight hours of didactics and hands-on training, physicians independently performed and interpreted ultrasounds on patients presenting to the ED with dyspnea. An expert sonographer blinded to patient data and LUS interpretation reviewed images and provided an expert interpretation. Interobserver agreement was performed between the study physician and expert physician interpretation. Cumulative sum analysis was used to determine the number of scans required to attain an acceptable level of training. Results Nineteen physicians were included in the study, submitting 330 LUS examinations with 3288 lung zones. Eighteen physicians (95%) reached proficiency. Physicians reached proficiency for interpreting LUS accurately when compared to an expert after 4.4 (SD 2.2) LUS studies for individual zone interpretation and 4.8 (SD 2.3) studies for overall interpretation, respectively. Conclusions Following 1 day of training, the majority of physicians novice to LUS achieved proficiency with interpretation of lung ultrasound after less than five ultrasound examinations performed independently.

Social Accountability and Graduate Medical Education

Because graduate medical education (GME) is largely publicly funded, it should be judged on how well it addresses the public’s health needs. However, the current system distributes GME resources inequitably by specialty and geography, and neglects to focus on training physicians adequately in the care of populations while reducing health disparities. Instead, GME continues to concentrate training in hospital-based academic centers and in subspecialties, which often exacerbates disparities in health outcomes and access to care. GME can be more socially accountable by shifting incentive structures to support primary care, creating more equitable distribution of residency slots and funding, and promoting training programs that focus on social and structural determinants of health.

Evaluation of a guidelines website capitalizing on Finnish content and Belgium interface: A pilot study in French general practice

No reference point-of-care, web-based medical compendium is available in general practice in France. We have then conducted the experimentation of EBMPracticeNet, a Belgian website of guidelines translated and adapted from the Finnish EBM Guidelines. We collected data from three sources: (i) the website logbook; (ii) a search-specific assessment questionnaire; (iii) a global assessment questionnaire. A cumulative number of 262 (62.8%) physicians performed at least one search on the website and clicked on average 5.9 times per month. Physicians globally got an accurate answer (74.2%). They found the information provided by the website reliable (92.2%) and useful for practice (78.6%). They perceived the website ergonomics as good. The main reported barriers were the time and effort required to find an accurate answer and the uneven relevance of the information retrieved. Improvements should focus on guidelines indexing and their adaptation to the French context, and training physicians to search medical databases.

Overwork Death of Chinese Physicians under High-Intensity Pressure, 2007-2018

Background: To summarize the cases of physicians overwork death between Jan 2007 and Dec 2018, the tragedy merits the attention of the authorities and policy-makers to increase their efforts to reduce death among physicians in China. Methods: Data were extracted from medical databases, local mass media, official documents and medical Bulletin Board System (BBS), in which only included articles, reports and news listed in the retrieval strategy, and unpublished data were excluded. Results: Overall, 110 cases (7 females and 103 males) were enrolled in this study. Most incidents have occurred since 2012, especially in 2017. Of these, 86 (78.18%) physicians worked in public tertiary hospitals, four times more than the number of cases taking place in secondary hospitals. Additionally, overwork death was the most common in surgery-related departments that account for up to 65 (59.1%). Notably, these events, taking place in first-tier cities and the southeastern coastal areas of China, included 27 chief physicians, 31 associate of chief physicians, 21 attending physicians, 10 resident physicians and 4 standardized training physicians. Conclusion: Overwork death among Chinese physicians is not only a contemporary health problem but also a critical social issue. The laws and regulations should be perfected to prevent the events. Meanwhile, the public should be aware of the need for more understanding and trust in physicians in China.