POC Ultrasound Training for Rural Health

描述（由申请人提供）：我们将提高农村卫生专业人员在使用床旁（POC）超声方面的技能。我们将开发一种采用分布式教育的方法，提供现场培训，形成性评估和能力测试。这项研究的基本原理是，现场分布式教育有助于农村提供者获得培训，减少了财政和后勤障碍，使患者能够得到连续的护理。分布式教育可以在数周内进行有意识的练习，这可能比目前压缩的1-2天继续医学教育课程更好地获得和保留技能。通过促进农村卫生保健提供者在POC超声的培训，拟议的研究推进农村卫生保健，这一直面临着挑战，在提供有效的服务，由于当地的医疗资源稀缺和患者，医生和医疗保健设施之间的距离。第一个培训模块将侧重于心脏和产科超声，这是我们调查5州WWAMI地区（华盛顿、怀俄明州、阿拉斯加、爱达荷州和蒙大拿州）时最常要求的。为了实现这些目标，我们将修改一个模拟器，我们开发和验证培训心脏病学研究员在其他资金。我们的具体目标是：第一名：开发基于模拟器的分布式教育课程，为农村医疗保健提供者提供POC心脏和产科超声技能的培训和形成性评估。将开发一种方法，以便在正常志愿者的初始扫描期间对每个受训者进行远程指导。二：通过测量从模拟器到现场受试者的技能转移来评估分布式教育课程的教育有效性，并测量技能保留。#3：评估学员对分布式教育的满意度。本研究的医疗保健益处是通过基于模拟器的分布式教育增强POC超声的安全有效利用。可交付成果是一个分布式教育模块，该模块经过验证，可用于培训效果、能力测试、转移到现场主题扫描和远程学习。在本提案下开发和验证的分布式教育方法将适用于POC超声的未来应用，例如手术指导。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We will enhance the skill of rural health professionals in the utilization of point of care (POC) ultrasound. We will develop an approach that employs distributed education to provide on-site training, formative assessment and competence testing. The rationale for this research is that distributed education on-site facilitates rural providers' access to training by reducing financial and logistical hurdles and by enabling continuity of care to their patients. Distributed education enables deliberate practice over a period of weeks, which may yield better skill acquisition and retention than current condensed 1-2 day continuing medical education courses. By facilitating training of rural health care providers in POC ultrasound, the proposed research advances rural health care, which has always faced challenges in providing effective service due to a scarcity of local medical resources and distance between patients, physicians, and health care facilities. The first training modules will focus on cardiac and obstetric ultrasound, which were most frequently requested when we surveyed the 5-state WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Idaho, and Montana). To achieve these goals we will modify a simulator that we developed and validated for training cardiology fellows under other funding. Our Specific Aims are: #1: To develop a simulator-based distributed education course to provide rural health care providers with training and formative assessment of skill in POC cardiac and obstetric ultrasound. A method will be developed to enable remote mentoring of each trainee during initial scanning of normal volunteers. #2: To assess the educational validity of the distributed education course by measuring the transference of skill from simulator to live subjects, and to measure retention of skill. #3: To assess trainee satisfaction with distributed education. The HEALTH CARE BENEFIT of this research is enhancement of the safe and effective utilization of POC ultrasound through simulator-based distributed education. The deliverable is a distributed education module that is validated for training efficacy, competency testing, transference to live subject scanning, and remote learning. The method of distributed education that is developed and validated under the present proposal will be applicable to future applications for POC ultrasound such as procedural guidance.