Poor return on investment: investigating the barriers that cause low credentialing yields in a resource-limited clinical ultrasound training programme

BACKGROUND: Clinical ultrasound is commonly used in medical practices worldwide due to the multiple benefits the modality offers clinicians. Rigorous credentialing standards are necessary to safeguard patients against operator errors. The purpose of the study was to establish and analyse the barriers that specifically lead to poor credentialing success within a resource-limited clinical ultrasound training programme. METHODS: An electronic cross-sectional survey was e-mailed to all trainees who attended the introductory clinical ultrasound courses held in Cape Town since its inception in 2009 to 2013. All trainees were followed until they completed their training programme in 2015. RESULTS: Only one fifth of trainees (n = 43, 19.7%), who entered the Cape Town training programme, credentialed successfully. Ninety (n = 90, 41.3%) trainees responded to the survey. Eighty-six (n = 86) surveys were included for analysis. Time constraints were the highest ranked barrier amongst all trainees. Access barriers (to trainers and ultrasound machines) were the second highest ranked amongst the non-credentialed group. A combination between access and logistical barriers (e.g. difficulty in finding patients with pathology to scan) were the second highest ranked in the credentialed group. CONCLUSIONS: Access barriers conspire to burden the Cape Town clinical ultrasound training programme. Novel solutions are necessary to overcome these access barriers to improve future credentialing success. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12245-018-0168-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.