Impact of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) training on emergency physicians' capacities building in trauma assessment

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) training in improving emergency physicians' skill of trauma assessment, confidence, and clinical decision-making capability. Methods TThis was a prospective study involving 80 emergency physicians without POCUS training experience. Participants were randomly assigned to a structured POCUS training group and a conventional training group. Both groups underwent standardized pre- and post-intervention assessments, including theoretical knowledge tests, practical skill evaluations in simulated trauma scenarios, assessments of clinical decision-making accuracy, and self-rated confidence scoring. Results After the intervention, the POCUS group demonstrated significantly better performance than the control group in theoretical knowledge (88.3±6.4 vs. 80.0±5.5, P＜0.001), practical skills (84.9±7.0 vs. 75.3±6.9, P＜0.001), and self-confidence scores (median 8 vs. 6, P＜0.05). Although there was no statistically significant difference in post-training clinical decision-making accuracy between the two groups (median 8 vs. 7, P＞0.05), the POCUS group showed a significant improvement as compared to their baseline (median 8 vs. 6, P＜0.01). Conclusions Structured POCUS training significantly enhances emergency physicians' trauma assessment capacities and confidence. It demonstrates strong educational effectiveness and contributing the capacity of medical students in terms of faster and more accurate clinical decision-making.