Focused Cardiac and Lung Ultrasound in Anesthesia/Critical Care - The Role of Self-directed Simulation-assisted Training Compared to a Traditional Supervised Approach

Focused Cardiac and Lung Ultrasound in Anesthesia/Critical Care - The Role of Self-directed Simulation-assisted Training Compared to a Traditional Supervised Approach

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a self-directed and simulation-based lung ultrasound (LUS) and focused cardiac ultrasound (FCU) curriculum is efficacious on anesthesia trainees' image acquisition skills and diagnostic acumen. The investigators hypothesize that a self-directed and ultrasound-assisted LUS and FCU curriculum that includes video lectures, online teaching modules, an ultrasound simulator, and self-directed hands-on sessions on critically ill mechanically ventilated patients is effective in training novice ultrasonographers to obtain good quality images, to correctly interpret them, and to support clinical decision-making in critically ill patients.

Trainees will be randomized to fully supervised FCU hands-on sessions on healthy models and critically ill mechanically ventilated patients (control group - traditional apprenticeship model) or to a completely self-directed and simulation-based approach (intervention group).

To assess if this new self-directed and simulation-based ultrasound curriculum leads to adequate acquisition of competences (adequate image acquisition and interpretation) in novice ultrasonographers, trainees will have to perform a focused lung and cardiac assessment on a critically ill mechanically ventilated patient.

Inclusion Criteria:

• PGY1 and PGY2 anesthesia resident at the University of Toronto

Exclusion Criteria:

• Previous training in lung ultrasound or FCU