Alice F Murray's research while affiliated with Boston Medical Center and other places

... A standardized scoring system was used to grade image quality on a scale of 0 to 4 (0: no meaningful images; 1: poor, not sufficient for interpretation; 2: good, acceptable for interpretation; 3: excellent, minor suggestions for improvement; and 4: outstanding, no suggestions for improvement). This scoring system is currently in use in the Kenya rural ultrasound training program [9] as well as other similar training programs in the African region [14,15] (Additional file 1: Appendix A). ...

... Cardiac POCUS is a focused ultrasound-based imaging strategy performed by a healthcare provider at the bedside to identify a limited list of cardiac findings which could be the etiology of the patient's often critical presentation. Typically limited to qualitative, binary assessments of systolic function and the presence of pericardial fluid, cardiac POCUS is not comprehensive nor consultative cardiac imaging, e.g., echocardiography [5][6][7]. Multiple single center pediatric research studies show noncardiologists utilizing cardiac POCUS, predominantly as a screening tool, to diagnose depressed systolic function with reasonable accuracy compared to the gold standard of echocardiography [7][8][9][10][11][12]. These studies are either evaluations of specific cardiac POCUS training programs for noncardiologists [9,10,12] or they are evaluations of cohorts of credentialed cardiac POCUS providers working within POCUS imaging programs [7,8], typically compromised of longitudinal training prerequisites, credentialing systems, image storage and reporting, and quality assurance programs. ...

... Despite advantages for resource-limited settings, few reports of LUS training programs in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) exist (2)(3)(4)(16)(17)(18)(19). All LMIC LUS training programs were led by experts using a multifaceted curriculum of lectures, handson instruction, and practice examinations. ...

... Building on the gamification movement, a competitive gamification approach for point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) was first popularized by the SonoGames competition that began at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Annual Meeting in 2012. 9 The basis of this competitive event was to use games and competition-based learning as a tool for resident ultrasound education. Results from this and other gamification events have shown an increase in resident enthusiasm for POCUS learning. ...

... Further, POCUS skills can be difficult to retain without ongoing practice and mentorship support. 5 Rural practitioners are typically "generalist" family physicians who combine family medicine with hospital-based practices such as obstetrics, EM and inpatient care. They often work in low-volume settings with few opportunities to use POCUS for clinical care, and most do not have access to local POCUS mentorship. ...

... Several authors have investigated how the use of videos, manuals, simulators, and other aids promote self-learning, self-direction, self-efficacy, self-monitoring, and selfevaluation in students to achieve learning; all of these are components of self-regulation [16,19,2,17,18]. However, these research investigations have been conducted through an implicit process. ...

... Solar-powered panels utilize mechanical motors requiring additional power for the reflectors [19]. The mechanical motors generate noise that cannot be removed during image processing for patient images [20,21]. ...

... 3,7 The use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in evaluating interstitial edema has been shown to be highly sensitive and specific for the evaluation of both cardiac and non-cardiac pulmonary edema. [8][9][10][11][12] Previous studies have also shown an association between geographical elevation and the development of non-cardiac pulmonary edema on ultrasound through identification of B-lines (previously "comet tails"). [13][14][15] Advances in portability and the reduced cost of POCUS units have introduced an opportunity for its application in screening for subclinical interstitial edema at altitude. ...

... Increased confidence, scanning frequency and impact on patient outcomes and management (as perceived by the clinicians) were described by the trainees as a result of the training; improvement in patient management and clinical diagnoses was reported by 62% of trainees, and earlier diagnoses and changes to patient management was reported by 46% of trainees. Other studies evaluating obstetric PoCUS training report similar improvements in pre-post course testing [56][57][58][59], trainee confidence [60][61][62][63], and knowledge retention [36,56,64]. ...

... This basic examination diagnoses the majority of life threatening conditions like pericardial tamponade, wall motion abnormality and hypovolemia. Repeated examinations allow us to monitor therapeutic intervention and patient progress [22]. Qualitative measure of ejection fraction of left ventricle can be estimated by observation and is comparable to quantitative measures [23]. ...