Assessment of Knowledge and Clinical Skills for Minimum Image Set in POCUS for Efast and Lung Scan among Sri Lankan Emergency Medicine Trainees

Abstract

Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is used by clinicians to answer specific questions to expedite emergency care until a comprehensive assessment can be done. Minimal image set in POCUS is considered the most critical feature and this study aims to assess the knowledge required for minimum image set for EFAST and lung ultrasound among Emergency Medicine (EM) trainees. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study, conducted among 97 Specialist Trainees in Emergency Medicine, at the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM), Sri Lanka. Data was collected using a self-administered online questionnaire via a set of multiple-choice questions at the PGIM and was analyzed by a descriptive and analytical statistical method using IBM SPSS Version 20 software. Ethical approval was granted by the ethical review committee of National Hospital Sri Lanka. Most of the participants had more than a year of experience in POCUS and had followed reputed ultrasound programmes such as WINFOCUS (62.8%). Furthermore,15.3% of the participants had international accreditation and 37.1% knew minimal image concepts. However, only 25% of the trainees had a good knowledge of minimal image concepts and 83.3% of them had followed a reputed programme. The study concluded that there is no clear relationship between the level of training and the knowledge, nevertheless, the type of reputed courses (WINFOCUS) and level of knowledge have a visible relationship. Overall, there is poor knowledge among the participants regarding a protocolized approach to POCUS.