Design and implementation of an ultrasound interactive console simulation system for medical e-learning scenarios

Background: Simulation plays a fundamental role in the provision of healthcare education. It endows the trainees with a safe environment where they can develop, improve and sharpen their medical skills through continual and purposeful self-practice as well as constructive feedback. This study delves into the fundamental role simulators have with regard to educational theory and promotion of effective learning and to examine the effectiveness of a Ultrasound Interactive Console Simulator (USICS) relative to a Ultrasound Scanning Machine and to validate the functionality of the USICS. Method: This study’s core objective was to establish whether it is possible to implement an effective web-based distance education system that will facilitate users become fully acquainted with the elements and uses of an actual ultrasound instrument. Ultrasound Interactive Console Simulator (USICS) is an online application that was developed to enhance the learning effectiveness, which utilizes the qualities and supplies of the World Wide Web to build a significant learning atmosphere where learning is adopted and maintained. The participants were registered to enable them to use the system. During registration, the participants were given directions about the ultrasound simulation system’s basic functions and keys. There are two different methods in this study; one is a questionnaire that consist of eighteen multiple choices questions was used in the data collection of this study to investigate the similarity, the content effectiveness, construct validity, and easiness of usage. A Likert scale (1 - 5) was used to get the assessment from sonographer experts over the use of the USICS. After that we apply Cronbach's alpha test to test the face, content, construct validity. The other method is pretest and posttest experiments to examine that the USICS is a comparative effectiveness for learning factor. Paired T-Test was applied on this experiment. Results: Some of the important results found in this study were: • The results of operations performed by the USICS are similar to the other ultrasound machines such as the Philips Clear Vue machine. • There are no variations in the content effectiveness and construct validity between the simulator system (USICS) and the Philips Clear Vue machine. • The USICS is a useful and effective supplement to conduct training on a real-life Ultrasound Scanner. Conclusion: To facilitate the acquisition of technical skills as would be obtained from a generic Ultrasound scanning machine a simplistic perspective frames simulation was employed to endow the students with a safe and comprehensive alternative to conducting clinical procedures. It is firmly believed that the Ultrasound Interactive Console Simulator (USICS) aims to satisfy the growing demand for effective tools for online healthcare education and specifically in the area of Ultrasound scanning training. In a bid to strike the right balance in the simulation of an ideal clinical scenario it is imperative to align the simulator in a way that replicates clinical environment in that is authentic and realistic. The results from the use of USICS indeed seem to meet this need and hold much promise for other and in-depth ventures into similar online healthcare training applications.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Salem Albagm