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Dimensionless squared jerk: An objective differential to assess experienced and novice probe movement in obstetric ultrasound
Author(s) -
Dromey Brian P,
Ahmed Shahanaz,
Vasconcelos Francisco,
Mazomenos Evangelos,
Kunpalin Yada,
Ourselin Sebastien,
Deprest Jan,
David Anna L,
Stoyanov Danail,
Peebles Donald M
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
prenatal diagnosis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.956
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1097-0223
pISSN - 0197-3851
DOI - 10.1002/pd.5855
Subject(s) - sonographer , ultrasound , medicine , jerk , obstetric ultrasound , observational study , imaging phantom , physical therapy , physical medicine and rehabilitation , nuclear medicine , pregnancy , radiology , gestation , physics , genetics , classical mechanics , acceleration , biology
Objective Widely accepted, validated and objective measures of ultrasound competency have not been established for clinical practice. Outcomes of training curricula are often based on arbitrary thresholds, such as the number of clinical cases completed. We aimed to define metrics against which competency could be measured. Method We undertook a prospective, observational study of obstetric sonographers at a UK University Teaching Hospital. Participants were either experienced in fetal ultrasound ( n = 10, >200 ultrasound examinations) or novice operators ( n = 10, <25 ultrasound examinations). We recorded probe motion data during the performance of biometry on a commercially available mid‐trimester phantom. Results We report that Dimensionless squared jerk, an assessment of deliberate hand movements, independent of movement duration, extent, spurious peaks and dimension differed significantly different between groups, 19.26 (SD 3.02) for experienced and 22.08 (SD 1.05, p = 0.01) for novice operators, respectively. Experienced operator performance, was associated with a shorter time to task completion of 176.46 s (SD 47.31) compared to 666.94 s (SD 490.36, p = 0.0004) for novice operators. Probe travel was also shorter for experienced operators 521.23 mm (SD 27.41) versus 2234.82 mm (SD 188.50, p = 0.007) when compared to novice operators. Conclusion Our results represent progress toward an objective assessment of technical skill in obstetric ultrasound. Repeating this methodology in a clinical environment may develop insight into the generalisability of these findings into ultrasound education.