Focused cardiac ultrasound: Competency among pre‐internship medical officers in diagnosing cardiac causes of dyspnea

Muriuki, Daniel, Kagima, Jacqueline, Mugera, Anne, Joekes, Elizabeth, Kwasa, Thomas and Joshi, Mark David (2024) 'Focused cardiac ultrasound: Competency among pre‐internship medical officers in diagnosing cardiac causes of dyspnea'. Journal of Clinical Ultrasound. (In Press)

Text FOCUSED CARDIAC ULTRASOUND COMPETENCY AMONG MEDICAL OFFICER PRE-INTERNS (MANUSCRIPT).pdf - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 26 February 2025. Download (312kB)

Abstract

Background
Differentiating cardiovascular causes of dyspnea in resource‐limited healthcare settings can be challenging. The use of easy‐to‐train, point‐of‐care, focused cardiac ultrasound (FoCUS) protocols may potentially alleviate this challenge.

Research Question
Can novices attain competency in FoCUS use after training using the cardiac ultrasound for resource‐limited settings (CURLS) protocol?

Methods
A quasi‐experimental study was conducted at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Forty‐five graduate medical pre‐interns, novices in cardiac ultrasound, received simulated didactic and hands‐on FoCUS skills training using the CURLS protocol and 2018 European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) FoCUS training and competence assessment recommendations. Competency was assessed in image interpretation, image acquisition, and image quality.

Results
Aggregate image interpretation competency was attained by n = 38 (84%) of trainees with a median score of 80%. The proportion of trainees attaining category‐specific image interpretation competency was as follows: pericardial effusion n = 44 (98%), left atrial enlargement n = 40 (89%), cardiomyopathy n = 38 (84%), left ventricular hypertrophy n = 37 (82%), and right ventricular enlargement n = 29 (64%). Image acquisition skills competency was attained by n = 36 (80%) of trainees. Three‐quarters of trainee‐obtained images were of good quality.

Conclusion
Majority of the trainees attained competency. Training constraints limit the generalizability of our findings.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	W General Medicine. Health Professions > Health Services. Patients and Patient Advocacy > W 84.4 Quality of Health Care WA Public Health > WA 30 Socioeconomic factors in public health (General) WG Cardiovascular System > WG 100 General works WG Cardiovascular System > WG 20 Research (General)
Faculty: Department:	Clinical Sciences & International Health > Clinical Sciences Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1002/jcu.23654
SWORD Depositor:	JISC Pubrouter
Depositing User:	JISC Pubrouter
Date Deposited:	10 Apr 2024 07:34
Last Modified:	10 Apr 2024 07:34
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/24150

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