The effectiveness of simulation training in the teaching of skills required for sonographic fetal assessment in mid-trimester pregnancy to novices: A pilot study.

INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: Ultrasound teaching has traditionally relied on access to patients or live model volunteers for the development of trainees' psychomotor skills. With recent developments in technology, simulators are increasingly becoming integrated into formal clinical skills training in medical and allied health education. This study aimed to develop and test the effectiveness of using a high-fidelity ultrasound simulator as the sole training tool to teach mid-trimester obstetric ultrasound skills to novice health and medical professionals who had no previous experience in using ultrasound imaging. METHODS: This pilot study used a prospective cohort design to recruit and train a small sample (n = 10) of health professionals who had no prior experience in obstetric ultrasound skills. The entire training programme used a high-fidelity simulator as the sole skills trainer across three training sessions. Testing points occurred at each session throughout the 5-week training programme. The final testing point, using live model patients, evaluated how well the skills learned using the simulator could be transferred to a more realistic setting. RESULTS/DISCUSSION: The skills of trainees improved and the time taken to perform the skills decreased significantly over the training period. These findings are consistent with a broad acceptance that simulated learning advances psychomotor skills. However, at the final simulator testing, trainees did not reach a level of full competency, and this was replicated in the live model testing. Simulated training to develop obstetric sonography skills appears to be useful in alleviating some of the burden of training from the clinical setting.