Computer Assisted Quantification of Learning Curves in Obstetric Ultra
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Computer Assisted Quantification of Learning Curves in Obstetric Ultrasound Scanning and Invasive Procedures. "CAL-Obs"
IRAS ID
253474
Contact name
Donald Peebles
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
UCL Data Protection Number, Z6364106/2018/07/127 health research
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 2 days
Research summary
This study aims to examine how learning curves differ between novice and experts. A learning curve is a process whereby a skill is developed by learning from mistakes. We wish to examine how the hand and eye movements of a novice operator differ from an experienced one. We plan to monitor how these movements change as a novice becomes an experienced operator. To do this we need to establish how the two groups differ before training. We plan to invite two groups of operators to undertake a detailed scan of a normal pregnancy at twenty weeks gestation. We have chosen this scan because it is offered to all pregnant women and has a standard set of images of the baby’s anatomy to be acquired. Experienced doctors in Fetal Medicine may undertake a procedure known as Amniocentesis. This procedure is offered to women who may have a raised chance of chromosomal problems, a suspected anomaly or infection following an ultrasound scan or screening. During Amniocentesis the operator obtains a small sample of amniotic fluid, the water around the baby, by inserting a fine needle through the mothers abdomen and into the uterus. The tip of the needle is guided using ultrasound.
This study aims to collect information on each of the participants hand and eye movements as they perform the scan. The operators will wear eye tracking glasses and the ultrasound probe will have a device which records its position during the scan. The Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme requires specific images from the scan to be captured as a still image, in this study all of the scan will be saved, as a video file. The eye and hand data will also be saved and be matched to the scan to identify similarities and differences in behaviours between experts and novices.REC name
London - Riverside Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/HRA/3411
Date of REC Opinion
19 Sep 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion