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Introduction

Introduction
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Learning Objectives

  1. Apply point of care ultrasound in the context of clinical evaluation of a patient.
  2. Learn image acquisition for cardiac, lung and eFAST scans.
  3. Use findings from clinical history, physical examination and POCUS to make a diagnosis and plan management.

Module Structure

  1. Pre-module Online Learning.
  2. Pre-module Briefing
  3. Virtual Reality Session.
  4. Post-Module Debriefing.
  5. Post-Module MCQs.

VR Clinical Scenarios

The VR Clinical Scenarios consist of 3 scenarios as follows:

  1. Patient presenting with chest pain following surgery.
  2. Patient presenting to EMD with shortness of breath and lower limb swelling.
  3. Polytrauma patient. 

You will play the role of the medical officer called to see the patient. Each scenario starts with background information given to you. You can treat this scenario as a real world situation, where you would normally proceed to evaluate the patient’s vitals, obtain a medical history, perform a physical examination and a point of care ultrasound scan. A final score with a breakdown for each of the following sections will be awarded to you on completion of each scenario.

  1. Vital sign’s evaluation: A vitals monitor is positioned at the patient’s bedside. These vital signs can change in response to treatment that you institute. 
  2. Obtaining a medical history: Start by introducing yourself to the virtual patient. You can subsequently obtain a history of presenting complaint, past medical history, drug history, allergies and social history as you would in a real patient. After you ask a question, the virtual patient will respond. There may be a short delay of 4-5 seconds before the virtual patient speaks. You can follow the transcript of your conversation with the virtual patient in a text box that appears next to the patient.
  3. Performing a physical examination: We are only able to simulate a limited physical examination in VR. This will involve use of a virtual stethoscope to auscultate the heart and lungs, You will be able to hear the auscultation sounds when you place the virtual stethoscope on the virtual patient.
  4. Performing a POCUS scan: This will involve initially selecting an appropriate ultrasound probe to scan an organ (heart, lungs or abdomen). If you are unfamiliar with probe positioning, you can choose to select the “guides on” button to help you with probe orientation and placement on the virtual patient. When you place the probe on the correct position on the virtual patient, an ultrasound image will be displayed on the virtual ultrasound machine.
  5. Diagnosis and management: This will take the form of multiple choice questions that are embedded into the VR program.