Brief group training of medical students in focused cardiac ultrasound may improve diagnostic accuracy of physical examination

Background: Physical examination and auscultation can be challenging for medical students. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a brief session of group training in focused cardiac ultrasound (FCU) with a pocket-sized device would allow medical students to improve their ability to detect clinically relevant cardiac lesions at the bedside.

Methods: Twenty-one medical students in their clinical curriculum completed 4 hours of FCU training in groups. The students examined patients referred for echocardiography with emphasis on auscultation, followed by FCU. Findings from physical examination and FCU were compared with those from standard echocardiography performed and analyzed by cardiologists.

Results: In total, 72 patients were included in the study, and 110 examinations were performed. With a stethoscope, sensitivity to detect clinically relevant (moderate or greater) valvular disease was 29% for mitral regurgitation, 33% for aortic regurgitation, and 67% for aortic stenosis. FCU improved sensitivity to detect mitral regurgitation (69%, P < .001). However, sensitivity to detect aortic regurgitation (43%) and aortic stenosis (70%) did not improve significantly. Specificity was ≥89% for all valvular diagnoses by both methods. For nonvalvular diagnoses, FCU's sensitivity to detect moderate or greater left ventricular dysfunction (90%) was excellent, detection of right ventricular dysfunction (79%) was good, while detection of dilated left atrium (53%), dilated right atrium (49%), pericardial effusion (40%), and dilated aortic root (25%) was less accurate. Specificity varied from 57% to 94%.

Conclusions: After brief group training in FCU, medical students could detect mitral regurgitation significantly better compared with physical examination, whereas detection of aortic regurgitation and aortic stenosis did not improve. Left ventricular dysfunction was detected with high sensitivity. More extensive training is advised.