FAST Examination During Emergency Practice

FAST Performance Test

The performance test required participants to conduct a FAST examination on two model patients (one normal, one ascites positive). No help or feedback was given to the participants.

Time frame: 1 day

Window acquisition time

Identification of FAST Window Quadrants and Diagnostic Interpretation of FAST Windows. The window acquisition time was measured with a stopwatch and represented the period between first contact of the probe with the model patient's body and when the participant said "stop" to indicate an adequate window or the participant's judgment that he or she could not acquire the window.

Time frame: 1 day

Window quality

For each acquired window, an expert evaluated the quality of the window. The window was rated as "excellent, fair, poor, or other." "Other" captured situations where the window acquired was nondiagnostic. Window quality was dichotomized into two categories, "excellent or not excellent," and subsequent analyses examined the number of participants that acquired "excellent" windows by quadrant (perihepatic space (also called Morison's pouch or the hepatorenal recess), perisplenic space, pericardium, and the pelvis and suprapubic quadrant) and patient type (normal, positive).

Time frame: 1 day

Diagnostic accuracy

For each acquired window, the participant rendered a diagnosis of that window. An expert evaluated the quality of the diagnosis. The diagnosis was rated as "correct, incorrect, or other." "Other" captured situations where the window acquired was nondiagnostic. For analysis purposes, diagnostic accuracy was dichotomized into two categories, "correct or not correct," and subsequent analyses examined the number of participants that interpreted the window correctly by quadrant (perihepatic space (also called Morison's pouch or the hepatorenal recess), perisplenic space, pericardium, and the pelvis and suprapubic quadrant) and patient type (normal, positive).