Strategies to Improve Teaching Point-of-Care Ultrasound at the Bedside

Abstract

Point-of care-ultrasound (POCUS) is becoming a core clinical skill in many medical specialties. Teaching POCUS at the bedside allows for observation of learners during actual patient encounters, provides a medium for role modeling skills and behaviors, and incorporates all core POCUS competencies. Nonetheless, bedside teaching can be time consuming and intimidating for learners and teachers, and the full benefits of teaching at the bedside can be difficult to attain. We provide strategies for improving bedside POCUS teaching based on our collective experience as medical educators and POCUS instructors at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in medical education.