Teaching Ultrasound-Guided Regional Anesthesia Through Mobile Phone Games

It is now quite common to use ultrasound as guidance when regional anesthesia is performed in hospitals around the world. However, to be able to use ultrasound during procedures, an anesthesiologist needs experience in ultrasound interpretation. If ultrasound data routinely collected from medical procedures are made available through an educational mobile application, there is potential for students of anesthesia to acquire knowledge through independent study. To study the potential behind the idea, a mobile application prototype, Nerve Blocker, was created and evaluated based on educational value and people s willingness to use it. The evaluation was performed through user testing. The evaluation showed that by making Nerve Blocker a fun game centered around ultrasound interpretation, the participants showed willingness to use the application. The evaluation also indicated that the participants had improved at ultrasound interpretation through exposure in the application. If Nerve Blocker is expanded to include more areas of regional anesthesia, and additional data per area, it could become a promising teaching tool to be used to supplement formal education