Resa Lewiss (@ultrasoundREL) joined Simulcast for this month’s journal club – reviewing a paper focused on the use of simulation for assessment of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) skills. 

Resa is an emergency physician, self described ‘global soul’, and experienced educator and thought leader in POCUS. 

The paper discussed was Collecting Validity Evidence for Simulation-Based Assessment of Point-of-Care Ultrasound Skills by Jensen et al in J Ultrasound Med 2017 

The paper concludes that the simulation based assessment process they examined was a valid tool for POCUS skills assessment, promising significant savings where human assessors can be replaced to some extent by the machine. 

Resa helped us understand the specific context of POCUS and the background to how these skills have been traditionally assessed. Her review of the use of simulation in ultrasound can be found here. 

The process described in the article is instructive for thinking about how to establish validity for other simulation based assessment processes. We conclude that there is much more ‘automated assessment’ to come – with significant opportunities but with a caution to rigorously ‘test the tests’. 

Victoria Brazil