P048: Brief online educational intervention improves emergency physicians’ and general surgeon's ability to interpret focused gallbladder ultrasound

Abstract

Introduction: Biliary colic is a frequent cause for emergency department visits. Ultrasound is the initial test of choice for gallstone disease. We evaluated the effectiveness of a brief online educational module aimed to improve Emergency Physicians’ (EP) and General Surgeons’ (GS) accuracy in interpreting gallbladder ultrasound. Methods: EPs and GSs (resident/fellow and attending) from a single academic tertiary care hospital were invited to participate in a pre- and post- assessment of the interpretation of gallbladder ultrasound. Demographic information was obtained in a standardized survey. All questions developed for the pre- and post- assessment were reviewed for content and clarity by 3 EP and GS experts. Participants were asked 22 multiple-choice questions and then directed to a 7-minute video-tutorial on gallbladder ultrasound interpretation. After a 3-week period, participants then completed a post-intervention assessment. Following pre- and post- assessment, participants were surveyed on their confidence in gallbladder ultrasound interpretation. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired t-test. Results: The overall response rate of the pre-intervention was 50.9% (116/228) and 40.8% (93/228) for the post-intervention. In pre-intervention assessment, 27.7% of participants reported they were “not at all confident” in interpreting gallbladder ultrasound. This contrasted with post-intervention confidence level, where only minority (7.8%) reported “not at all confident”. There was a significant increase from the pre- to post- intervention (75.7% to 85.4%; p < 0.01) in correct interpretations. The greatest improvement was seen in those with previous experience interpreting gallbladder ultrasound (from 79.6% to 91.1%; p < 0.01). EPs scored significantly higher than GSs in the pre-intervention (EPs 78.2% compared to GSs 71.0%; p < 0.01). This trend was also observed in post-intervention, although the difference was no longer significant (EPs 88.9% compared to GSs 82.8%; p = 0.05). There was no significant difference in performance between residents/fellows compared to attendings. Conclusion: This brief, online intervention improved the accuracy of EPs’ and GSs’ interpretation of gallbladder ultrasound. This is an easily accessible tutorial that can be used as part of a comprehensive ultrasound educational program. Further studies are required to determine if EPs’ and GSs’ interpretations of gallbladder ultrasound impacts patient-oriented outcomes.