Simulation of Countermeasures in the Face of Covid-19 Using a Linear Compartmental Model Adaptation of an anatomy graduate course in ultrasound imaging from in-person to live, remote instruction during the Covid-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Summary In this chapter, the authors study the effectiveness of the health countermeasure adopted by half of the countries of the world as a means of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. Containment of the population seems to be a well-suited action in the absence of an effective treatment, such as a viral treatment or a vaccine. The SIR (Susceptible?Infected?Recovered) model is known in epidemiology as a compartmental model. The SIR model, in its basic formulation, stratifies the population into three health states susceptible to the disease, infected with the disease and recovered from the disease. A linear model is proposed for simulation purposes, the authors specify its data, its variables, its objective function and its constraints. Health concerns during the Covid-19 pandemic required the adaptation of a lecture-laboratory course in ultrasound imaging for graduate students from an in-person to a live, remote learning format. The adaptation of in-person lectures to live, remote delivery was achieved by using videoconferencing. The adaptation of in-person laboratory sessions to live, remote instruction was achieved in the first half of the course by providing a hand-held ultrasound instrument to each student who performed self-scanning at their remote locations, while the instructor provided live instruction using videoconferencing. In the second half of the course, the students transitioned to using cart-based, hospital-type instruments and self-scanning in the ultrasound laboratory on campus. The aim of this study was to measure the success of this adaptation to the course by comparing assessment scores of students in the live, remote course with assessment scores of students in the in-person course offered in the previous year. There were no statistically significant differences in the assessment scores of students in the two courses. The adaptation of a course in ultrasound imaging from an in-person to a live, remote learning format during the Covid-19 pandemic described here suggests that contrary to the prevailing view, ultrasound imaging can be taught to students without in-person instruction. The adapted course can serve as a model for teaching ultrasound where instructors and learners are physically separated by constraints other than health concerns during a pandemic.