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Teaching Medical Students Left Internal Thoracic Artery Ultrasound

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Abstract

Introduction

Previous studies have described techniques for performing ultrasound of the left internal thoracic artery. The purpose of this study is to assess the ability of medical students with little prior ultrasound experience to quickly find and identify the left internal thoracic artery after a brief instructional session.

Materials and Methods

Fifty-one first-year medical students were taught to perform ultrasound of the left internal thoracic artery. The instruction consisted of a 5-min didactic followed by a 2-min real-time ultrasound demonstration. Each participant was then given a maximum of 2 min to find the artery while scanning a standardized patient. A radiologist made the determination of whether or not the student pointed out the correct structure within that time period. If the student was successful, then the time to locate the artery was recorded. The students also completed a questionnaire about the ultrasound experience.

Results

Forty (78 %) of the 51 students correctly identified the artery in less than 2 min. For those students, the mean time to locate the artery was 69.5 s. Four students pointed out the incorrect structure. Seven students ran out of time before pointing out a structure. Nearly all of the students indicated that they enjoyed the experience and that it increased their interest in ultrasound.

Conclusions

This study showed that novice ultrasound users can quickly learn to locate the left internal thoracic artery with ultrasound.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Matthew Aussprung MS-4, Michael Corso MS-1, and Tyler Stoltz MS-4 for volunteering to be standardized patients for the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, 6311 Garners Ferry Rd Building 101, Columbia, SC, 29209, USA

    Floyd E. Bell III & Francis H. Neuffer

  2. Ultrasound Institute, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, SC, 29209, USA

    Floyd E. Bell III & Victor V. Rao

  3. Medical Students, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, SC, 29209, USA

    Jacob D. Nelson, Janki S. Patel & Chadwick D. Barrs

Authors
  1. Floyd E. Bell III
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  2. Francis H. Neuffer
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  3. Victor V. Rao
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  4. Jacob D. Nelson
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  5. Janki S. Patel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Floyd E. Bell III.

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Conflict of Interest

General Electric Healthcare through an educational partnership with the University of South Carolina, School of Medicine provides ultrasound systems and technical support for a student ultrasound curriculum.

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Bell III, F.E., Neuffer, F.H., Rao, V.V. et al. Teaching Medical Students Left Internal Thoracic Artery Ultrasound. Med.Sci.Educ. 26, 207–211 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-016-0233-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-016-0233-z

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