DEVELOPMENT OF LUNG ULTRASOUND TRAINING THAT ENABLES PHYSIOTHERAPISTS TO ACHIEVE MEANINGFUL LEARNING USING FINK’S INTEGRATED COURSE DESIGN MODEL

R. Brosseau^1,2, C. Marchand², M.-P. Monette^1,2, E. Bernard-Blanchard¹, S. Champagne-Paradis¹, S. Dion¹, V. Bergeron¹, R. Denis-Brisson¹, O. Guérard¹, M.-A. Bouffard¹, G. Chamberland¹, L.-P. Tremblay¹, J. Turgeon Desroches¹, V. Valiquette¹, A.Y. Denault^3,4, J.-O. Dyer^1,5

¹Université de Montréal, School of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Montréal, Canada, ²Montreal Heart Institute, Physiotherapy Service, Montréal, Canada, ³Université de Montréal, Montreal Heart Institute, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Montréal, Canada, ⁴Université de Montréal, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Montréal, Canada, ⁵Université de Montréal, Groupe Interdisciplinaire de Recherche sur la Cognition et le Raisonnement Professionnel, Centre de Pédagogie Appliquée aux Sciences de la Santé, Faculty of Medicine, Montréal, Canada

Background: There is evidence that lung ultrasound (LUS) can be useful in assessing a variety of pulmonary conditions requiring physiotherapy interventions. However, LUS is not yet widely used in the clinical practice of physiotherapists worldwide. This may be due to the lack or formal training in this area specifically for physiotherapists. There is currently a lack of LUS training programs that have been developed with situational factors in mind (i.e., factors that limit the teaching and implementation of this method) and that could allow physiotherapists to achieve meaningful learning. Fink’s integrated course design model permits the development of trainings that conduct to this primary goal.

Purpose: 1-To present how a LUS training program for physiotherapists was developed at the Université de Montréal using Fink’s integrated course design model; 2-To present the evaluation plan for this training program to validate its effectiveness and verify that learners have indeed achieved meaningful learning.

Methods: The project consisted of two parts: 1-Program Development and 2-Program Evaluation. Part 1-Program development followed the three phases of the Fink’s model: Initial Phase-Building strong primary components; Intermediate Phase-Assembling the components into a coherent whole, and Final Phase-Finalizing the remaining major tasks. Part 2-The evaluation of the training program is underway and will use Stufflebeam’s CIPP (Context, Inputs, Processes, Products) model.

Results: Part 1-Program Development: The LUS training Program was developed and started in 2017 in the Physiotherapy Program at Université de Montréal (UM). This program includes introductory training in LUS for students in the professional master’s program in physiotherapy (2h of lecture, 4h of online self-study, and 3h of hands-on practice). Also, a continuing education program for practicing physiotherapists (4h of online self-study, 8h of hands-on practice, and development of a portfolio of 10-25 validated LUS images or videos) started in 2020 and is being offered in-person since 2021. The primary focus of this training is to develop the clinical reasoning in LUS for professional master’s students and the competency to use this method in the clinical setting for practicing physiotherapists. To date, this program has trained 368 students and 17 physiotherapists. Part 2-The CIPP evaluation model anticipates the importance of the physiotherapy practice and educational contexts on program evaluation. In addition, evaluations methods will need to be developed to assess the competency of physiotherapists in the use of LUS in clinical settings.

Conclusions: Fink’s integrated course design model has allowed for the development of a LUS curriculum that addresses the contextual factors that impede training. This curriculum includes initial training for master’s students and an adapted training for practicing physiotherapists. The CIPP model anticipates that specific evaluation methods will need to be developed to assess program’s impact.

Implications: The LUS curriculum will train an increasing number of physiotherapists in the use of this evaluation and treatment modality. In clinical settings, this will benefit the physiotherapy practice by increasing the LUS users’ confidence while improving the competency of physiotherapists to better address patients with pulmonary problems.

Funding acknowledgements: This project was funded by the Physiotherapy Program of Université de Montréal

Keywords:
Lung ultrasound
Educational program design
Educational program evaluation

Topics:
Cardiorespiratory
Education
Professional practice: other

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Reason: This project does not require ethical approval as it is a new development in education project within the continuous improvement of the Physiotherapy Program at the Université de Montréal.