Applications to Renewed Course in Ultrasonography Exceed Expectations

Last semester, Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) started offering senior medical students a renewed elective study course in ultrasonography. The course is based on a combination of digitalisation and simulation techniques already used at several European universities. Students' interest exceeded initial forecasts five times over, and the first graduates will sit their exams at the end of January this year.

Artūrs Šilovs, lecturer and resident doctor at the Riga East Clinical University Hospital: ‘I had the opportunity to study in Austria and do my practice in Germany as part of the Erasmus exchange programme.

Having seen their approach to training, I got the idea to launch a pilot project to implement something similar at RSU. The aim was to expand students’ opportunities to practice in ultrasonography.

Thanks to the support of the Head of the RSU Department of Radiology, Associate Professor Ardis Platkājis, and our excellent cooperation with the Medical Education Technology Centre (METC), we renewed the existing training base and purchased a new ultrasonography simulator. Thanks to the RSU study programme modernisation target grant established by The Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation, a large part of the study materials have been digitised and are now available online.

This saves a significant amount of time spent acquiring theoretical material, which students can now do at a time and place convenient. This frees them up to focus more on practical work during the classes.’

Assoc. Prof. Platkājis: ‘Renewing the elective study course in ultrasonography, attracting new lecturers, and expanding students’ opportunities to gain practical skills are part of our department's development plan. These goals are successfully being implemented thanks to our lecturers’ international experience and teamwork.’

METC Director, Ieva Šlēziņa: ‘The METC is always open to students’ and lecturers’ initiatives to develop simulation-based medical education. The SonoSchool project has been taking place at METC for several years. We are pleased that an innovative study course in radiology has now been developed on the basis of this initiative. In addition, the simulation environment has been supplemented with the latest simulation technologies in the field of radiology to facilitate students learning clinical skills in a safe environment.’

It is possible to learn theory, and to complete tasks and interactive self-assessment tests independently in the e-learning environment. Students are provided with everything they might need (for example, photos and videos) to learn the material independently before the class thus helping them acquire the course contents. In this way, it is possible for them to spend more time honing their practical skills with the new USG simulator at the RSU study campus in Gaiļezers and at the METC. ‘We are also grateful to Veselības centrs 4 (Health Centre 4) and the Association of Health Centres for their support in providing us with used ultrasound equipment free of charge,’ emphasises Šilovs.

Lecturers for the course: Dr. med. Artūrs Balodis, Andrejs Lioznovs, Jekaterina Safronova, Edgars Naudiņš un Artūrs Šilovs.

Both local and international students value this new opportunity. Several hundred applications were submitted to participate in the course. This means that the capacity of this course needs to be increased as there is currently not enough space for everyone who is interested. Taking students’ interest into account, the team of lecturers is already working on expanding the range of topics and creating new materials.