Exploring the Influence of Different Learning Activities on Medical Students' Psychological Pathways in Ultrasound Acquisition

Abstract Background Acquiring proficiency in medicine typically necessitates a combination of foundational knowledge and hands-on experience. However, how do lecture and hands-on practice affect the psychological learning process in ultrasound education remains unclear. The purpose of this research was to test how the different learning activities associated with the psychomotor domain, elucidating their connections with cognitive and affective domains in the context of ultrasound education. Method This study is originally based on the post-course survey of the Parallel Ultrasound Hands-on (PUSH) trial. The survey was done by 127 third-year medical students with information regarding attending times and learning self-efficacy scale that consisted of 12 items with adequate reliability (Cronbach's α=0.9). A partial least square structural equation modeling was used for analyzing the data. Results Attending times of lecture was positively associated with cognitive (β=0.343; 95% CI: 0.093 to 0.567) and psychomotor domain (β=0.252; 95% CI: 0.066 to 0.452), but hands-on practice was only significantly associated with psychomotor domain (β=0.208; 95% CI: 0.043 to 0.376). Conclusion Lectures and hands-on practice exert varying impacts on medical students' psychological pathways involved in learning ultrasound. The combination learning design could be flexible at the time table of the course, but also be required with minimal attendance to the class.