Point-of-care ultrasound for internists: a serious game!

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is an important diagnostic tool for several medical specialties including internal medicine. POCUS is the bedside use of ultrasound (US) in a focused, often dichotomous manner by the treating physician, which can be immediately integrated into clinical reasoning and management decisions. Its use improves diagnostic performance and is especially useful as an addition to history taking and physical examination. However, the reliability of POCUS is partly operator dependent, and any person working with it requires sufficient training to become proficient. In this thesis, we investigated the use of POCUS by internists in the clinical assessment of patients. We provide insight in the development of a curriculum for POCUS to become proficient. Finally, we show that the use of a serious game may be a fun and alternative way of learning of learning POCUS.