Integrating Point of Care Ultrasound into Medical School Clerkships in a Statewide Distributed Campus Model

Introduction: Integration of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) into clinical clerkships in a statewide campus is challenging. The objective of this paper was to describe the implementation and evaluation of a POCUS curriculum that was added to Emergency Medicine (EM) and Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN) core clinical rotations in a distributed campus undergraduate medical education (UME) model. The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was reviewed by the institutional IRB and determined to be exempt. Methods: This was a descriptive study of the implementation and evaluation of POCUS into two clinical clerkships. In this paper, we describe the development of a grading rubric, educational design, and image transfer process used to evaluate student performance. Results: Implementation occurred in step wise fashion. In the EM clerkship between 2016 and 2018, 395 students participated with a 100% completion rate. In the OB/GYN clerkship, 2017-2018, 186 students completed the clerkship all but one successfully completing the assignment. Conclusion: This pilot project demonstrated the successful implementation of a POCUS curriculum in two clinical clerkships in an UME distributed campus model.