Point of Care Ultrasound For Gastric Residual: An Objective Structured Clinical Examination

Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) has become an invaluable tool in modern medical practice offering real-time diagnostic and procedural guidance for anesthesia providers. POCUS is a non-invasive assessment tool that gives anesthesia insight into a quantitative assessment of gastric residuals. Furthermore, POCUS assessments are useful in preventing anesthetic complications that can cause major morbidity and mortality such as aspiration pneumonia. Despite the growing relevance, formalized training on POCUS for assessing gastric residuals remains limited in many nurse anesthesia programs. The University of Southern Mississippi currently lacks a standardized curriculum for teaching student registered nurse anesthetists how to utilize gastric ultrasound which leaves room for a knowledge gap. This doctoral project aims to bridge the knowledge gap present in emerging anesthesia providers by implementing an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) on gastric POCUS. Given the growing importance of gastric POCUS, especially with the rising use of GLP-1 and SLGT-2 inhibitors that significantly prolong gastric emptying times, the need for such a training tool is greater now than ever. The OSCE generated by the authors will provide a standardized format for educating SRNAs in USM's nurse anesthesia program therefore improving their competency in assessing gastric residuals so that better care can be delivered to patients. Data was collected from 21 senior-level SRNAs which were randomly divided into a control group and a test group. Results revealed that 80% of the test group, trained by the OSCE, reported improved confidence in their ability to perform a gastric POCUS assessment compared to only 55% in the control group. Confidence in the doctoral project was ranked on a 5-tier system where the test group outperformed the control group by a significant margin. These findings suggest that an OSCE is a highly effective educational tool for educating anesthesia providers on gastric POCUS which improves both confidence and competency.