Ultrasound-guided central venous catheter insertion: teaching and learning

Excerpt

It is now widely accepted that ultrasound-guided central venous catheter (CVC) insertion improves success, reduces complications, and represents the standard of care [1‐6]. Where CVCs are used often, such as the intensive care unit, emergency room, and operating theater, trainees are schooled in procedural planning, ultrasound technique, and catheter insertion. Standardized approaches [7] and guidelines for training have recently been published [8]. But what is really being taught and learned? In this issue of Intensive Care Medicine, Nguyen and colleagues examined the pace at which trainees acquired knowledge and skills involved in jugular venous catheterization, finding that only 4–8 insertions were needed for competence [9]. Given the complexity of content, technique, and hand–eye–ultrasound coordination required, their results are encouraging and suggest that training is rapidly effective. This finding of a limited number of supervised procedures required to demonstrate competence is similar to skills in general intensive care ultrasound [10] and basic intensive care echocardiography [11, 12]. …