Medical students' knowledge towards ultrasound in Kurdistan region, Iraq: a cross-sectional study

POCUS has become an indispensable modality in clinical practice due to its real-time, non-invasive imaging and accessibility. On the contrary, despite the importance of ultrasound, training is significantly variable across medical education, thereby leaving gaps in competency among graduates. In light of the aforementioned fact, ultrasound training is increasingly part of medical curricula; however, practical exposure remains limited due to logistic barriers. This cross-sectional study assesses ultrasound knowledge among 213 medical students across six academic years in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Results show that 95.3% of the students know that ultrasound is applied outside obstetrics, hence showing a general comprehension of its area. However, 43.7% of students wrongly believe that exposure to ultrasound radiation is involved, whereas only 56.8% appropriately recognize clinical contraindications, identifying residual misunderstandings. Knowledge improved with advancing year of study. For instance, knowledge that ultrasound is non-radiative increased from 17.6% in students in their first year to 95% in those in the sixth year (p < 0.001). Similarly, the use of ultrasound gel is known to 54.1% of the students in the first year, with this number increasing to 100% in the sixth year of study (p < 0.001). The overall ratings of students' knowledge were: fair, 86.4%; good, 8.5%; and poor, 5.2%. These results also indicate that more comprehensive ultrasound education in terms of ensuring proficiency is necessary, and misconceptions have to be dispelled among future physicians. This study is the first study which conducted in Kurdistan region of Iraq, therefore we think that it is important to know the medical students then the medical education program related to sonography can be changed according to the result.