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To the Editor: Standard ultrasonography has been used to supplement traditional methods of instruction in medical school courses.^1-2 Recent advances in ultrasound technology have made this noninvasive imaging method more readily available and portable.^3-4 Handheld ultrasound devices, weighing less than 4 kg and costing approximately $12 000, generate high-resolution images. We implemented an echocardiography training program using handheld ultrasound devices in the core curriculum of Cardiovascular Gross Anatomy. The program taught first-year medical students to image and identify cardiovascular structures by using a parasternal long-axis (PLAX) ultrasound projection.

Methods

The first-year class of 42 students at Mayo Medical School participated in 3 weeks of echocardiography training, using each other as subjects. Training consisted of 1 week of introduction (90 minutes) and small-group training (60 minutes) followed by 2 weeks of independent practice (averaging 14.2 [SD, 20.4] minutes) and feedback. Students labeled anatomical structures (anterior chest wall, right and left ventricles, interventricular septum, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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