The magic cauldron: ingredients to transition ultrasound from teaching undergraduate anatomy to postgraduate POCUS
Integrating ultrasound into undergraduate medical curricula in the UK remains a hard nut to crack. While UK medical schools are making progress, there is no standardised undergraduate medical ultrasound curriculum and we are considerably behind the USA and Europe. As a new medical school, we were able to consider the essential ingredients to include in a hocus pocus cauldron. The three sets of ingredients are: place, people and pedagogy.
Our first ingredients relate to place: the place of ultrasound in the degree programme, the physical environment and the equipment. Ultrasound often finds its place in UK medical curricula via anatomy2-4 because understanding anatomy is essential for clinical image interpretation and ultrasound scanning. At University of Sunderland School of Medicine (SSM) we integrated ultrasound within anatomy in our new medical programme (www.sunderland.ac.uk/ student-experience/explore/health-sciences-wellbeing/teach_anatomy). In 2019, SSM was established as one of five new medical schools. We designed and built a new Anatomy Centre co-locating the cadaveric teaching laboratory and anatomy resources room (ARR). Alongside anatomical models, technology-enhanced learning and artistic approaches, the ARR was designed to support ultrasound teaching. We incorporated high level windows with blinds for privacy, low level dimmable lighting for optimised viewing, heating for patient comfort, a segmental design dividing the teaching area into virtual ‘scanning cubicles’ for privacy and a storeroom for portable examination couches and ultrasound equipment. The audio-visual system also allows large projections of live scanning demonstrations.
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