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Early Echocardiography experience assists in improving and retaining knowledge of Cardiac Anatomy and Physiology for medical students
Author(s) -
Elmoselhi Adel,
Eladl Mohamed,
Seif Mohamed
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.576.16
Subject(s) - test (biology) , medicine , checklist , clinical cardiology , curriculum , session (web analytics) , parasternal line , learning cycle , medical physics , medical education , cardiology , psychology , computer science , paleontology , pedagogy , mathematics education , world wide web , cognitive psychology , biology
Background Echocardiography (Echo) has become an increasingly valuable tool in clinical patient care. Acquiring the needed skills for its use is now critical for all practitioners. Recently the medical education around the globe has been undergoing a major transformation to prioritize competency and clinical integration with basic medical sciences. Our aim is to explore the feasibility of early echocardiography experience as an effective tool to improve and sustain knowledge of cardiac anatomy and physiology to second‐year medical students. Methods The study was conducted on 66 medical students in a problem‐based learning (PBL) curriculum. Students were introduced to cardiac anatomy and physiology as well as the basic principles of ultrasonography before the Echo sessions. A pretest was conducted at the start of the Echo theoretical session, consisting of 10 questions related to anatomical structures and phases of the cardiac cycle. The Echo practical sessions included hands‐on experience on standardized patients with a checklist of structure and function that are commonly demonstrated in left parasternal and apical four chamber windows. An early post‐test with the same questions was repeated immediately after the Echo clinical sessions to test knowledge gained during the sessions. Another late post‐test using the same questions was conducted after five months to test the retention of the student's knowledge. Furthermore, surveys were conducted to gather students' feedback. Results The early post‐test outcome revealed a significant improvement in identifying the cardiac structures and function in comparison to the pre‐test. The mean of the student's scores increased from 6.58 (SD = 1.75) to 9.59 (SD = 1.04) with P value ≤ 0.0001. This significant improvement has been maintained in the late post‐test after five months with a mean of 9.2 (SD = 1.74) with insignificant correlations between post‐test and late post‐test (P Value = 0.12). Furthermore, 95% of students admitted that preceding basic knowledge is essential for identification of Echo images and 86% stated that integrating this experience is helpful in consolidating different phases of the cardiac cycle. Conclusion Introducing Echo spatial orientation and hands‐on experience in the early years of a medical curriculum seems to improve and enhance the retention of student's knowledge of cardiac anatomy and physiology. The Echo experience was well received and endorsed by the students and needs to be considered in new medical curricula development. Support or Funding Information N/A