Skillful Handling and Accurate Positioning in Echographic Simulation (SHAPES): Assessment of an Ultrasound Training Simulator for Teaching Basic Ultrasound Use

Ultrasonography is a challenging skill to teach given the long learning curve and requirement for hands-on practice, coupled with saturated veterinary academic programs and the shortage of academic veterinary radiologists. Ultrasound skill simulators can help bridge the gap by providing students with access to individual, reusable simulators for skill acquisition and practice. A reusable 3D SHAPES ultrasound skill simulator was created to teach basic ultrasound skills. Fifty second-year veterinary students watched an instructional video and performed two basic ultrasound skill tests on a simulator, separated by a period of practice. Students improved their time to completion on the second test by an average of 5.52 seconds. Improvements were also noted in the number of shapes they interrogated (16.8% increase, 3.64/5 to 4.48/5) and the average number of correctly identified shapes (19.6% increase, 2.08/5 to 3.06/5). The number of correctly located shapes increased in both planes (x-y: 2.18/5 to 2.56/5; x-z: 1.2/5 to 1.4/5). Feedback on a post-session survey was overwhelmingly positive, with 100% (50/50) students in agreement that the simulator should be incorporated into the curriculum, 98% (49/50) indicating that they would use the simulator again for practice, 92% (46/50) indicating that the simulator increased their basic ultrasound skills and knowledge, and 80% (40/50) indicating the simulator improved their confidence using ultrasound. Students were most challenged by the spatial reasoning component of the simulator and its curved surface, and overall considered it a valuable learning tool that improved their spatial reasoning abilities, skill, and confidence using ultrasound.