Implementation of ultrasound education in the medical degree curriculum - the Ulm model

Ultrasound is the most commonly used diagnostic method in everyday clinical practice aside from conventional radiography. For prospective physicians, there is a gap between the increased requirements in everyday clinical practice and the skills acquired thus far, especially when dealing with sonography. In this work, we would like to present the structure of our sonography course and its implementation in the Ulm core curriculum of medical studies. The sonography course is based on two pillars. The Sonography Seminar (Pillar 1) has a lecturer who regularly conveys interdisciplinary theoretical content, fundamentals and possible fields of application for sonography during 13 appointments of 45 minutes. The internship (Pillar 2) consists of four appointments of two hours each. The groups of four students are supervised by a student tutor. In addition to the technical basics and an introduction to the device customer, the organ systems liver, gallbladder and biliary tract, kidneys and adrenal glands, spleen, pancreas, abdominal vessels and lymph nodes are mediated. The focus is on the realistic exercises with high-end ultrasound equipment used in small groups with a final practical test. The structure and procedure of the course was evaluated as being very positive by the students.