From leadership research to district action: Undergraduate point-of-care ultrasound education in Japan: a nationwide cross-sectional survey of curriculum status, barriers, and implications for educators

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Evidence and transfer

Education-related source: verify which participants, institutions and outcomes were actually studied before district adoption. Source publication type: research-article. License and identity checks do not establish study quality or causality.

Original authors’ abstract, reproduced under the source license:

Background Point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) is increasingly recognized as an essential bedside clinical skill and a valuable educational tool in undergraduate medical education. Although many medical schools worldwide have begun integrating POCUS into their curricula, the extent to which undergraduate POCUS education has been formally implemented and accredited in Japan remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the accreditation status and implementation of undergraduate POCUS curricula across Japanese medical schools. Methods We conducted a nationwide, cross-sectional, web-based survey of all 82 Japanese medical schools between July and September 2025. The questionnaire addressed institutional characteristics, perceived educational need for POCUS, accreditation status of undergraduate POCUS curricula, curriculum structure and content, instructional methods, assessment strategies, and perceived barriers and facilitators to implementation. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize findings, and reported barriers to implementation were compared between institutions with and without accredited curricula. Results Sixty valid responses were analyzed (response rate: 73.2%). Although 81.6% of respondents agreed that POCUS should be integrated into undergraduate medical education, only 12 institutions (20.0%) had a formally accredited POCUS curriculum. Among accredited programs, 58.3% implemented longitudinal curricula spanning multiple academic years, most commonly integrating POCUS into clinical clerkships and physical examination teaching. All programs included diagnostic POCUS, with abdominal applications being the most frequently taught, whereas procedural POCUS was included in fewer than half of programs. Post-training assessments were conducted in 58.3% of institutions, primarily through practical skill evaluations. Major barriers to implementation included shortages of trained faculty (75.0%), limited equipment and educational resources (66.7%), lack of institutional leadership to drive curriculum development (58.3%), and insufficient curricular time. No statistically significant differences in perceived barriers were observed between institutions with and without accredited curricula (χ2 test, all p values > 0.05). Conclusions Despite broad recognition of the educational value of POCUS, formal accreditation and educational infrastructure remain limited in Japanese medical schools. Institutions that have adopted POCUS commonly employ longitudinal and clinically integrated approaches. These findings highlight a substantial gap between perceived educational need and practical implementation and provide actionable insights for educators and curriculum leaders to prioritize faculty development, resource allocation, and institutional support for undergraduate POCUS education. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-026-09180-0.

Study methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study targeting all medical schools in Japan authorized to confer a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. The survey was conducted between July and September 2025. The study received approval from the Institutional Review Board at the Institute of Science, Tokyo.

Limitations

The current study has several limitations that should be considered. First, the study was based on a web-based survey, with all data relying on self-reported responses from representatives at each institution. Therefore, respondents’ perceptions may not fully reflect actual operational practices. Additionally, faculty members who were more interested in POCUS may have been more likely to respond, introducing a potential selection bias.

A 90-day district inquiry

Days 1–15 · Appraise. Read the source methods, recruitment, comparator, outcomes and limitations. Record how the study setting differs from your district and which claim the design can support.
Days 16–30 · Design. Choose one school improvement question with teachers. Protect a short shared planning cycle, agree an instructional change and use a common rubric for examining student work. Agree participation, privacy protections, baseline and stopping rules before starting.
Days 31–60 · Observe. Collect the pre-agreed measures, keep a log of implementation changes and invite confidential voluntary feedback. Preserve existing support for staff and learners.
Days 61–90 · Decide. Review implementation fidelity, teacher time and independently scored student work against a recorded baseline. Examine access differences and competing explanations before attributing changes to leadership. Make a dated decision to stop, revise or extend the inquiry.

Board decision brief

Present the local problem, source setting, evidence limits, intervention, responsible owner, total cost, measured changes and uncertainty. Separate staff perceptions, implementation measures and student learning outcomes.

Attribution and reuse

Toru Yamada; Masanaga Yamawaki; Takahiro Shinohara; Hiroyuki Ichige; Suguru Mabuchi; Takuma Kimura; Takeshi Ishida; Masayoshi Hashimoto. Undergraduate point-of-care ultrasound education in Japan: a nationwide cross-sectional survey of curriculum status, barriers, and implications for educators. BMC Medical Education (2026-04-10). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-09180-0

Prepared 2026-11-07. Source authorship and DOI are preserved. The abstract and source passages are attributed extracts; this editorial guide is offered under the same CC BY 4.0 license.