The faculty of the Medical and Health Professions Education Program at Virginia Health Sciences proudly announces the upcoming dissertation defense of Chris Allen. His study entitled THE IMPACT OF REAL-TIME ULTRASOUND-GUIDED LUMBAR PUNCTURE SIMULATION TRAINING ON PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT STUDENT COMPETENCY AND SELF-EFFICACY assessed how a simulation-based, mastery-learning ultrasound-guided lumbar puncture workshop affected physician assistant student self-efficacy scores and procedural competency using commercial and 3D-printed task trainers. This dissertation defense is open to the public, and all are welcome to attend.
Date: November 6, 2026
Time: 9:00AM Eastern Time
Link: https://odu.zoom.us/j/97615944340
Full abstract: Medical and health professions students have not graduated with adequate procedural training, either simulated or patient-contacting, before entering practice (Barr & Graffeo, 2016; Mabee et al., 2014). These skills are often expected to be taught at the bedside; however, consistent, high-quality opportunities are scarce (Barr & Graffeo, 2016). Rodriguez-Paz et al. (2009) and McGaghie et al. (2012) determined that the historical approach of experiential learning leads to worse outcomes, lower procedural competency, and lower self-efficacy. Physician assistant (PA) educators have recognized this deficiency in clinical preparation and seek structured, simulation-based alternatives to hone procedural skills prior to graduation. This exploratory, interventional, randomized, noncontrolled study used a within-subject, two-arm crossover design to assess how a simulation-based, mastery-learning ultrasound-guided lumbar puncture workshop affected physician assistant student self-efficacy scores and procedural competency using commercial and 3D-printed task trainers. Thirty-two second-year PA students at a single R1 university participated in the workshop. Self-efficacy was measured using the Learning Self-Efficacy Scale (Kang et al., 2019) before and after the workshop, and procedural performance was assessed using a condensed Ultrasound-Guided Lumbar Puncture Assessment Tool, adapted from the validated Lumbar Puncture Assessment Tool (Henriksen et al., 2018).
Statistically significant improvements with large effect sizes were observed across all three self-efficacy domains following the workshop (cognitive: d = 2.40; affective: d = 1.68; psychomotor: d = 1.43; all p < .001). No significant differences were found between trainer types for anatomy identification, number of attempts, or cerebrospinal fluid return; however, the 3D-printed trainer had significantly shorter completion times (p = .046) and fewer needle redirections (p = .049), and 96.9% of participants preferred it. Post-workshop affective self-efficacy did not significantly predict procedural success for either trainer, likely due to limited statistical power in this pilot sample (Lakens, 2022). This study provides simulation centers and PA educators with a replicable pathway for teaching ultrasound-guided lumbar puncture to achieve procedural competency and improved participant self-efficacy, suggesting that cost-effective 3D-printed task trainers are viable alternatives to commercial models without compromising procedural outcomes (Mashari et al., 2018).