A Novel Serious Game As an Alternative for Teaching Basic Point-of-Care Transthoracic Echocardiography Skills

Point-of-care ultrasound education follows non-standardized teaching and learning methods. In many cases, ultrasound is practiced directly on patients without proper training, or ultrasound simulators are used. However, these simulators are expensive to purchase and are not always readily available to students. In addition, there are a growing number of new digital tools, such as serious video games, that aim to deliver the same content in a more accessible and cost-effective manner. However, in the field of point-of-care echocardiography, there is still little scientific evidence to support their use.

This single-blind, prospective, randomized, controlled, non-inferiority trial aims to demonstrate the non-inferiority of a serious video game compared to conventional simulator-based training of basic echocardiography skills to make ultrasound training more accessible to every trainee.

Only medical students who already have the necessary anatomical knowledge but no experience with ultrasound diagnostics will be recruited to participate in this study. Participants will attend a 90-minute workshop to learn the basics of point-of-care echocardiography. They will then be required to perform standardized transthoracic echocardiography before and after a two-week training period, which will be scored by blinded experts. During the training phase, one group will practice the hand-eye coordination required for echocardiography using an ultrasound simulator, while the second group will practice the same content using a serious video game. In addition, questionnaires will be used to collect additional data from the participants.