Ultrasound Curriculum
Proficiency in bedside ultrasonography is a core skill set required of today’s EM residency graduates. It has not only proven to aid in more timely and accurate diagnoses, but has also shown to improve patient treatments and outcomes. SIU’s EM residency training provides its residents with a robust emergency ultrasound curriculum. It is designed to provide the future EM physician with the technical skills of performing procedures and examinations confidently while also providing a strong foundation in ultrasound interpretation. Starting with an introductory didactic and skills sessions, the heart of ultrasound training at SIU is through a longitudinal series of ultrasound shifts with ultrasound core faculty. With 120,000+ volume emergency departments outfitted each with a mix of SonoSite X-Portes, M-turbos and a fleet of Butterfly IQ’s, the learning environment is primed for the EM resident to extend their ultrasound expertise into the clinical arena.
Jonathan dela Cruz, MD, RDMS
Director of Research and Ultrasound
The Ultrasound Core Curriculum (Introductory and Bedside Learning)
PGY-1
Intro to POCUS - (Orientation Month) Didactic & Hands On Session
Half day session during the orientation month where basic ultrasound principles, machine operation, descriptive terminology, and probe/patient orientation are discussed. Residents are then taught the Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST) exam with a skills session afterwards. This is to provide residents with a basic understanding of ultrasound manipulation/orientation as well as prepare them for their trauma rotation.
EM Ultrasound Block (Anesthesia Adjunct)
• Available online curriculum to guide the block activities
• 2 supervised US shifts with ultrasound core facultyr (10+ scans each shift)
• 2 or more unsupervised US shifts (10+ scans each shift)
• Offline review of ultrasounds during monthly QA with ultrasound core faculty
EM Blocks
• Supervised US shifts throughout the year during ED months (10+ scans a shift)
PGY-2
EM Blocks
• Supervised US shifts throughout the year during ED months (10+ scans a shift)
PGY-3
US Teaching Opportunities
After fulfilling requirements in ultrasound proficiency per the ACEP ultrasound guidelines policy statement, senior residents participate in ultrasound education of more junior residents and medical students. Several bedside ultrasound labs are scheduled throughout the year not only for our residency, but also other departments at SIU. Emergency medicine faculty and residents have been and continue to be invited to teach bedside ultrasound techniques to general surgery, trauma surgery, and internal medicine/critical care.
PGY-3’s have the opportunity to teach during these sessions to help solidify their expertise and mastery of emergency ultrasound.
US Elective Block
Senior residents can choose to use their senior elective time to hone their skills in emergency ultrasound. Working in close proximity with the ultrasound director, a PGY-3 can design an elective to fulfill any knowledge or technical skills deficits they want to fill prior to graduation. A highly motivated senior resident can also use this time to prepare for Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer (RDMS) certification including obtaining their required 800 reviewed scans as well as test preparation with the ultrasound director.
The Ultrasound Didactic Curriculum (Small Group And Asynchronous Learning)
Ultrasound Small Groups
In addition to introductory and bedside experiences our ultrasound training involves a rotating 18 month small group ultrasound curriculum. Every few blocks during Thursday conference residents are involved with small group learning with ultrasound core faculty. These small groups sessions were established to better solidify resident skills sets in image acquisition and interpretation in a more standardized approach than can happen during an ultrasound shift. Small group sessions include:
• Bedside Echo
• Critical Care POCUS
• Abdominal POCUS
• Regional Anesthesia
• MSK POCUS
• Wild Card POCUS
Ultrasound of the Block (Asynchronous Learning)
First instituted as a friendly competition to spark increased volume of bedside studies, it has now become a melee of ultrasound fun and learning. Every block all recorded ultrasounds are reviewed for quality assurance and ultrasound core faculty pick a few ultrasound images/clips of interest naming them “Ultrasound of the Block” studies. These ultrasounds are posted online to be viewed with questions attached for residents to answer. Residents gain points for the competition by having their ultrasounds selected and for answering questions correctly. Each year point totals seed residents into an end of year US competition where a winner is announced after a finale competition. Previous competitions have included Double-Dare, Jeopardy, The Weakest Link, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and NCAA Tournament style events.