Point-of-care u
ltrasound has become an essentia
l ski
ll in the armory of modern physicians. The South African point-of-care u
ltrasound curricu
lum ref
lects that of the United Kingdom by inc
luding five modu
le app
lications, name
ly, extended focused assessment of sonography in trauma (eFAST), abdomina
l aorta aneurysm, centra
l and periphera
l venous access, focused emergency echocardiography in resuscitation (FEER), and deep venous thrombosis (DVT). A recent descriptive study demonstrated marked discrepancies between the current five point-of-care u
ltrasound curricu
lum app
lication modu
les trained and the disease burden faced by doctors within Cape Town Emergency Centers during their dai
ly c
linica
l practice. The motivation for conducting this study is to extend the study
location beyond Cape Town. The ob
jective was to estab
lish whether the c
linica
l practice exposure of South African certified point-of-care u
ltrasound providers ref
lects the current curricu
lum content.
Methods
An online survey was conducted. All South African certified emergency medicine point-of-care ultrasound providers were eligible for inclusion. Cases with incomplete data and providers practicing outside South Africa were excluded. Summary statistics were used to describe all variables.
Results
Forty-four providers completed the survey (52.4% response rate), but only 37 responses were analyzed [currently working outside South Africa (n = 5); incomplete responses (n = 2)]. Most respondents were female (n = 20, 54.1%); aged > 35 years (n = 22, 59.5%); working in the Western Cape Province (n = 29, 78.4%); and emergency medicine specialists (n = 22, 59.5%). The eFAST (35.9%), DVT (24.4%), and FEER (14.3%) application modules were the most frequently used. The top five modules selected that best match the participants' perceived burden of disease were eFAST (89.2%), DVT (86.5%), FEER (64.9%), first-trimester pregnancy (56.8%), and focused assessment with sonography for human immunodeficiency virus/tuberculosis (43.2%). Most respondents (n = 27, 73%) indicated that the curriculum should be expanded to include more than five application modules.
Conclusions
This study indicates a mismatch between the current point-of-care ultrasound curriculum and the clinical burden of disease experienced. Disease burden, disease impact, technical difficulty of ultrasound applications, and logistical barriers need to be incorporated when considering a change in the curriculum to make it more appropriate for the South African setting.