A. Study design and ethics approval

This is a prospective cohort study performed on healthcare providers in Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City (SSMC) undergoing the POCUS training workshop. The workshop was held in February 2022 for four days. Before starting the POCUS workshop, all participants took a pre-course survey to evaluate their baseline knowledge, skills, confidence, attitude, perception and interest in POCUS. Afterwards, the training took place in four phases. The first phase dealt with the acquisition of theoretical knowledge. The second and third phases included acquiring basic practical knowledge through workshops, simulators and mannequins. The fourth phase included learning at the bedside with patients in real-world clinical contexts. The first three days of education included 30 min of lectures and video review followed by 60 min of hands-on practice on models to reinforce the techniques. Topics covered included the ultrasound physics, Doppler and knobology (how to use ultrasound device and image optimisation), basic cardiac views, ultrasound of the lungs and systemic veins (Venous Excess Ultrasound, VeXUS), estimation of cardiac output and assessment of fluid responsiveness. The last day included an integrated hands-on training on hemodynamic monitoring followed by a post-course survey to evaluate the knowledge and skills acquisitions as well as the quality of training sessions. The study utilized Kirkpatrick's model, an internationally recognized tool for evaluating training programs, to evaluate the knowledge, skills, and frequency of POCUS usage pre-course and immediately post-course, to assess the outcomes (Level-1 reaction, level-2 learning, level-3 behaviour and level-4 results) [10, 11]. Ethical approval was obtained from the institutional review board of SSMC and the requirement for informed consent was waived due to the deidentified nature of the survey.

B. Study population and settings

Healthcare providers meeting inclusion criteria, with minimal or no prior ultrasound experience from general medicine and critical care, were invited to participate in the 4 day POCUS training course. The training course was initiated on February 15, 2022, which served as pre-course assessment, till February 18, 2022, which served as the post-course assessment. Healthcare professionals were also invited to complete a pre-training and post-training surveys to assess the quality of training sessions. Participation in the survey was on a voluntarily basis and all responses were kept confidential. Participants who completed both, the pre- and post-training surveys, were included in the study and their results were analysed. Those who failed to return both surveys were excluded from the study.

C. Survey development and data collection

Two web-based structured surveys, the pre- and post-course, were developed using the Google Forms software and were sent to the training participants via the hospital’s internal email system (Additional file 1). Medical providers working in SSMC were asked to complete both surveys. The pre-course survey had 3 main components which contained a total of 36 questions including 2 clinical-based questions on image interpretation. It collected information regarding sociodemographic characteristics, including clinical speciality, role, number of years in practice and past experience with POCUS. In addition, the surveys asked questions about (1) the basic understanding of POCUS, (2) former POCUS training, level of exposure and current experience with POCUS, (3) interest and willingness to use POCUS device and (4) perceived potential barriers to the implementation of POCUS. On the other hand, the post-course survey collected data on the (1) usefulness of POCUS, (2) ways to capture the opportunities presented by POCUS and (3) an evaluation of the training curriculum. Further, to assess the knowledge and skills acquisition of POCUS, healthcare providers were asked to self-rate their competency in 16 POCUS applications on a 5-point Likert scale, where 5 = “very confident”, 4 = “confident”, 3 = “neither confident nor not confident”, 2 = “not confident”, and 1 = “not at all confident”, pre-course, on day 1, and immediately post-course, on day 4.

D. Data analysis and assessment tool

The data were analysed using R studio software. Descriptive analysis, such as mean, standard deviation and frequencies were used to describe the study cohort. Visual boxplots were used to investigate any difference in score for skills and knowledge acquisitions from pre-course to post-course. All data and information gathered were used to understand the effectiveness of POCUS training and gain insights into the degree of perception, interest and preparedness of POCUS among practising medical providers.