Enhancing Ultrasound Education through Volunteer Participation in Cardiac Screening

To develop medical student sonography skills through volunteer involvement in a cardiac screening of local athletes for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. University of California, Irvine medical students were recruited and trained to obtain cardiac ultrasound images to detect hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in local high school athletes. HCM ultrasound training involved watching an instructional video and up to two hours of supervised, hands-on ultrasound use. Students had unlimited access to an ultrasound machine for non-supervised practice. Ten Orange County, California high schools or junior colleges hosted the ultrasound cardiac screening team of 5-12 medical students and 1-3 supervising physicians as part of student athlete physical events. An average of 120 student athletes were scanned during each 4-hour screening. For each athlete, a medical student obtained 2-second video clips of parasternal long and parasternal short cardiac views. From the parasternal short view, apical to the mitral valve, the muscular ventricular septum and the left ventricular wall were monitored in motion mode (m-mode) and were measured in systole and diastole on a still m-mode image. The recorded ultrasound videos and images were reviewed by a pediatric cardiologist after the screening. Medical students were asked to complete a brief survey about their participation. Twenty-five medical student volunteers and five physicians obtained cardiac ultrasound data for 1200 young athletes in Orange County, CA over a four-month period. Incidence of findings is pending final review by the research team pediatric cardiologist, who determined 67-74% of student-performed cardiac scans adequate for HCM assessment. Students reported increased confidence in obtaining specific cardiac views quickly, utilizing extensive features of the ultrasound machine, and teaching the screening process to other students. Student participation in public ultrasound screening provides a public service and enhances student skills and confidence.