This year also marked our inaugural ‘Introduction to Extended Applications in POCUS’ for local Faculty and incoming resident trainees. Featuring bedside scanning and image interpretation sessions, participants stepped into the realm of POCUS applications for DVT, gallbladder, renal, extended cardiac and thoracic assessments. All will follow up this educational day with a one-month rotation in the ED honing their skills with clinically based scans in these applications.

A huge thank you to our dedicated @emergencylondon instructors, our amazing POCUS Faculty for all of their content development and delivery, the organizing and leadership prowess of Dr. Heather Hames, the support staff at CSTAR, vendor support from Sonosite and Phillips, and of course all of our volunteer models. The team effort made this an awesome educational event for all.

We are already looking forward to next year!

The Division of Emergency Medicine is once again pleased to host its annual “Introduction to ED Point of Care Ultrasound” course on July 6th, 2017.

This course will emphasize  fundamental techniques in image acquisition and interpretation and  7 indications of point of care ultrasound in the ED. Course content is aimed at practitioners who are beginning their pathway to competence in point of care ultrasound.

Topics covered will be:

• Abdominal : Presence of intra-peritoneal fluid? (Yes/No)

• Abdominal : Presence of abdominal aortic aneurysm? (Yes/No)

• Subcostal Cardiac : Presence of pericardial fluid? (Yes/No)                                                  Cardiac activity during arrest? (Yes/No)

• Pelvic : Presence of an intra-uterine pregnancy? (Yes/No)

• Thoracic: Presence of pneumothorax (Yes/No)                                                     Presence of a pleural effusion (Yes/No)

The course will feature an outstanding faculty to learner ratio for hands-on sessions as well as innovative image interpretation sessions.  These small group sessions emphasize image interpretation skills and serve as intimate venues to reinforce clinical integration pathways.

Course director is Dr. Heather Hames. Bedside instructors will include faculty from within the Division of EM’s experienced group of point of care sonographers.

If you have interest in attending as a participant please contact us via email at [email protected] (please include Emergency Course in subject line).

Last years course filled up quickly so please contact us if interested.

Some pics from our previous courses can be found here.

A huge thank you to our dedicated @emergencylondon instructors, the organizing and leadership prowess of Dr. Heather Hames and Dr. Grant Coome, the support staff at CSTAR, vendor support from Sonosite and Phillips, and of course all of our volunteer models. The team effort made this an awesome educational event for all.

We are already looking forward to next year!

EM POCUS @westernsono

The Division of Emergency Medicine is once again pleased to host its annual “Introduction to ED Point of Care Ultrasound” course on July 6th, 2017.

This course will emphasize  fundamental techniques in image acquisition and interpretation and  7 indications of point of care ultrasound in the ED. Course content is aimed at practitioners who are beginning their pathway to competence in point of care ultrasound.

Topics covered will be:

• Abdominal : Presence of intra-peritoneal fluid? (Yes/No)

• Abdominal : Presence of abdominal aortic aneurysm? (Yes/No)

• Subcostal Cardiac : Presence of pericardial fluid? (Yes/No)                                                  Cardiac activity during arrest? (Yes/No)

• Pelvic : Presence of an intra-uterine pregnancy? (Yes/No)

• Thoracic: Presence of pneumothorax (Yes/No)                                                     Presence of a pleural effusion (Yes/No)

The course will feature an outstanding faculty to learner ratio for hands-on sessions as well as innovative image interpretation sessions.  These small group sessions emphasize image interpretation skills and serve as intimate venues to reinforce clinical integration pathways.

Course director is Dr. Heather Hames. Bedside instructors will include faculty from within the Division of EM’s experienced group of point of care sonographers.

If you have interest in attending as a participant please contact us via email at [email protected] (please include Emergency Course in subject line).

Last years course filled up quickly so please contact us if interested.

Some pics from our previous courses can be found here.

The Division of Emergency Medicine is pleased to announce the 2015 iteration of its annual introductory course in ED point of care ultrasound.  This course will emphasize the “Fundamental 4″ views and 5 indications of point of care ultrasound in the ED and is aimed at practitioners who are beginning their pathway to competence in point of care ultrasound.

The “Fundamental 4″ are:

• Abdominal : Presence of intra-peritoneal fluid? (Yes/No)

• Abdominal : Presence of abdominal aortic aneurysm? (Yes/No)

• Subcostal Cardiac : Presence of pericardial fluid? (Yes/No)                                                                     Cardiac activity during arrest? (Yes/No)

• Pelvic : Presence of intra-uterine pregnancy? (Yes/No)

The course will feature an outstanding faculty to learner ratio for hands-on sessions as well as innovative image interpretation sessions.  These small group sessions emphasize image interpretation skills and serve as intimate venues to reinforce clinical integration pathways.

Course directors are Drs. Behzad Hassani, Heather Hames and Grant Coome. Bedside instructors will include faculty from within the Division of EM’s experienced group of point of care sonographers.

The date for the 2015 course will be July 9, 2015.  If you have interest in attending as a participant please contact us via email at [email protected] (please include Emergency Course in subject line).

Some pics from our previous courses can be found here.

**Update May1, 2015. The course is at capacity, but we are happy to keep your contact info should any spots open up. Looking forward to a great day of scanning!

It highlights key points in scans for AAA, abdominal free fluid, pericardial effusions and the confirmation of intrauterine pregnancies.

Pocketcard – Emergency Basic Applications

If you wish to use non-digitally, I suggest you print double sided on to medium card stock and laminate.

It all starts with the basics!

Featuring multi-disciplinary attendees from Emergency Medicine (CCFP, FRCP and Peds), General Surgery, Vascular Surgery and Family Medicine, the scan-packed day was a great success. This year brought some new pre-course material and a revised format geared towards maximizing hands-on-probe time. Helmed by Dr. Behzad Hassani and Dr. Mirza Baig, our new Course Directors led a fun filled, education packed day for 28 new POCUS users with an industry-leading 2:1 student:instructor ratio.

A huge thank you to the organizing team, our Faculty Instructors and of course our models (who each endured dozens upon dozens of scans). Without all of this help the course would not be the annual success it has become.

Stay tuned for updates for our upcoming courses.

This screencast spends more time on identifying potential errors leading to false negative and false positive studies.

We were pleased to see an extended range of trainees this year, including incoming residents and faculty from the Departments of Emergency Medicine, General Surgery, Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Family Medicine. Paired with over 15 faculty and resident bedside trainers, the instructor to student ratio was ideal and hands on probe time optimized.

Feedback from residents and consultants alike was overwhelmingly positive, making specific mention of the great teaching ratios, time dedicated to scanning and the quality of the educational materials.

Specific thanks and congratulations are extended to our Course Directors (Dr. Laura Foxcroft and Dr. Ram Reddy) who have helmed another successful iteration of this home grown course. Both will be passing the baton of course leadership to the next generation of POCUS leaders in 2014, and they have left us in great shape as we begin early planning for next year. On behalf of the POCUS program,  would like to specifically thank both of you for your endless hours of preparation and dogged attention to details that have blossomed this course into a true success.