Scoping review of implementing a longitudinal curriculum in undergraduate medical education: The wake forest experience

Background Hands-on ultrasound experience has become a desirable component for undergraduate medical education (UGME) curricula throughout medical schools in the United States (US) to enhance readiness for future training. Ultrasound integration can be a useful assistive educational method in undergraduate medical education to improve anatomy and physiology skills. Relatively few medical schools have integrated ultrasound experiences formally into their 4-year medical school curriculum due to limitations of a resource intensive set up. Methods We undertook a scoping review of published UGME ultrasound curricula integrated into all four years in peer-reviewed as well online literature. In addition, we provide a narrative review of our institutional experience in conceptualization, design and implementation of UGME ultrasound curriculum driven by need to address the fading knowledge in anatomy and physiology concepts beyond pre-clinical years. Results Integrated ultrasound curriculum at WFSOM utilizes focused ultrasonography as a teaching aid for students to gain a more thorough understanding of basic and clinical science concepts taught in the medical school curriculum. We found 18 medical schools with ultrasound curricula published in peer-reviewed literature with a total of 33 ultrasound programs discovered by adding Google search and personal communication Conclusions The results of the review and our institutional experience can help inform future educators interested in developing similar curricula in their undergraduate programs. Common standards, milestones and standardized competency-based assessments would be helpful in more widespread application of ultrasound in UGME curricula.