Teaching ultrasound procedural skills-low cost phantoms and animal models.

Acquiring the necessary cognitive and psychomotor skills to perform ultrasound guided procedures may require initial training. Growing evidence shows that simulation can help in the acquisition of procedural skills. Commercially available phantoms are expensive, have non-tissue like haptics, are preformed with fixed targets and do not allow for additional targets to be imbedded. In this study we have described several new phantoms and animal models that are inexpensive, easy to assemble and allow a rapid change of targets. Such phantoms can provide an ideal initial learning opportunity in a zero-risk environment.