Table 1 Local goals, barriers, and strategies around POCUS training

Goals for the curriculum

1. Develop students’ knowledge of the principles of POCUS, and clinical indications for its use.

2. Develop students’ proficiency in image acquisition and interpretation.

3. Promote student engagement and learning in the basic science curriculum with POCUS.

Local Barriers

Our regional campus hosts an 18-month basic science curriculum resulting in:

• Limited time frame for implementing additional coursework.

• Limited access to advanced students, clinical faculty, and teaching resources

In addition, we identified contextual barriers including:

• Minimal institutional knowledge in POCUS.

• No POCUS equipment for hands-on training.

• Limited community medical resources (e.g., critical access hospitals).

• Many competing demands on student and institutional resources.

Local Strategies

To bring POCUS training to our campus, we identified the following strategies:

• Leverage appropriate FOAMed and asynchronous resources.

• Interdepartmental purchase of POCUS equipment to defray costs.

• Integration of POCUS content after relevant teaching in the basic science curriculum.

• Bolster intramural faculty with:

○ Faculty development initiatives

○ Local registered diagnostic medical sonographers

○ Local physician POCUS users

○ Remote physician POCUS users