Evaluating long-term skill retention following teledidactic vs. on-campus musculoskeletal ultrasound training: The TELMUS-follow-up study

Abstract

Purpose

Musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) relies on examiner competence, requiring ongoing practice, supervision, and quality assurance. Limited resources and densely packed medical curricula demand effective training methods to ensure long-term skill retention. Teledidatic as well as peer-assisted learning approaches have shown short-term results in training MSUS comparable with conventional in-class teaching. Consequently, this study aimed to evaluate the long-term retention of MSUS skills.

Materials and methods

One year after completing either the teledidactic or conventional course of a standardized MSUS elective (TELMUS study), medical students’ retention of MSUS skills in image acquisition and interpretation was assessed by a repeated objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). The follow-up OSCE scores of the teledidactic cohort and the on-campus cohort were compared to their previous results as well as between the two study groups.

Results

A total of 24 medical students of the initial 30 (80 %) participated in the follow-up study. In the follow-up OSCE, students enrolled in the teledidactic course achieved an average score of 52.88 (SD ± 6.12), which corresponds to 90.35 % of the results of the post-course assessment. Similarly, the on-campus participating students reached 91.99 % of their post-course OSCE with 52.25 (SD ± 7.45) points. No significant differences could be found between the two teaching cohorts (p > 0.05).

Conclusion

Teledidactic teaching formats lead to an equivalent long-term maintenance of practical MSUS skills and serve as a sustainable didactic approach in medical education. The observed decline in skills across both cohorts highlights the critical need for repetition in student ultrasound education, ideally integrated into a longitudinal curriculum.