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!
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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
]]>Thanks to all that have participated, and special thanks to Cristiana Olaru, Behzad Hassani and Drew Thompson for this CME development.
Stay tuned for our next applications in the modular series.
]]>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 highlight of the weekend was once again the SonoGames, where our participants showed off their new-found abilities in an impressive display of knowledge and aptitude with the ultrasound probe.
The Symposium organizers would like to extend a heartfelt “Thank You” to our instructors, to CSTAR, to our volunteer patient models, and to our attendees for making the weekend such an enjoyable experience!”
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Hosted at the state of the art Canadian Surgical Technologies & Advanced Robotics (CSTAR) facility, this two-day symposium provided medical students with an introduction to point of care ultrasound. The event was attended by 38 medical students from 6 medical schools across Canada. Extensive opportunity for “hands-on” skill development was a focus of the symposium. This practical component was enhanced by didactic teaching from local experts. The weekend was capped off with fierce competition and a showcase of ultrasound skills as participants attempted to take home the Western SONOGames Cup!
The first day began with an electrifying keynote address by Dr. Rob Arntfield. Dr. Chris Byrne, the founder of the 1st medical student ultrasound symposium, then gave participants an informative lecture highlighting the fundamentals of ultrasound. This was followed by exciting workshops on Cardiac and Lung ultrasound led by Dr. Rob Arntfield. Dr. Drew Thompson wrapped up a busy first day by leading the FAST and Obstetrical ultrasound workshops.
Day two began with an engaging lecture by Dr. Naveen Poonai highlighting the use of ultrasound in pediatric fracture localization and reduction. Dr. Drew Thompson then led instruction in Abdominal, Aorta and Hepatobilliary ultrasound. This was followed by an expanded session on ultrasound in Procedural Guidance, taught by Drs. Vishal Uppal, Jon Brookes and Rakesh Vijayashankar. The symposium concluded with fierce but friendly competition during our Western SONOGames, which included an expanded emergency medicine simulation station (led by Drs. Ouellette and Davis). Congratulations to this year’s SONOGames winners (see photo below) for clinching a close battle and taking home the hardware. The bragging rights are all yours!
Congratulations to the SONOGames winners!
We would like to extend a special thank-you to our corporate partners SonoSite Canada, Phillips Canada, and General Electric Canada for the donation of state-of-the-art ultrasound machines. The support of ultrasound machines and expertise was invaluable! We were also fortunate to have MedaPhor graciously provide a virtual-reality training system – ScanTrainer – for medical students to explore and hone their ultrasound skills. Finally, this weekend could also not have been a success without our standardized patient models who volunteered their time to support the event.
We are excited for the new academic year and what it will bring for PoCUS and undergraduate medical education. The experiences from this past weekend demonstrate that medicals students are ready to embrace point of care ultrasound and will seek it out additional instruction independently!
Below are some photos from the weekend with credit to Weiang Yan. Also find the members of the medical student planning committee whose tireless efforts cumulated in this weekend’s symposium and the faculty and residents whose enthusiasm and expertise in teaching made the weekend a success.
Thank you to everyone for your support as we look forward to 2015 and the making of the 3rd annual Medical Student Ultrasound Symposium!
Medical Student Planning Committee: Nick Packer (2015), David Mainprize (2015), Mike Clemente (2015), Weiang Yan (2015), Ryan McLarty (2015), Evan Ailon (2016), Josh Burley (2016), Justin Cottrell (2017), Craig Olmstead (2017).
Faculty & Resident Instructors: Robert Arntfield, Drew Thompson, Su Ganapathy, Chris Byrne, Rakesh Vijayashankar, Vishal Uppal, Ramiro Arellano, Dave Ouellette, Matt Davis, Sean Doran, Alberto Goffi, Pat Murphy, Amit Shah, Jon Brookes, Naveen Poonai, Roy Roebotham and Shoeb Ashan.
]]>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.
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The PoCUS Symposium is a 2-day workshop series that provides medical students from across Canada with an introduction to bedside ultrasound. The weekend equips medical students with the knowledge and confidence to generate and interpret high quality ultrasound images in real clinical situations. Curriculum includes lectures from renowned ultrasound experts (see agenda below). All didactic lectures will be enhanced by opportunities for developing practical ultrasound skills, with over 10 hours of scanning time in the state-of-the-art CSTAR facility scheduled throughout the weekend. The intent of the symposium is to maximize opportunity for developing practical ultrasound competency.
Last August thirty-five students from five Canadian medical schools attended the inaugural event. The student response to the inaugural event was overwhelmingly positive. The amount of hands-on scanning time and low instructor to learner ratio has been and will continue to be a major strength of the event.
Registration is now open to medical students attending any of Canada’s 17 accredited medical schools. Students at all levels of training and experience are welcome. Check out the promotional video and continue reading below for more details on this exciting event. We look forward to seeing you there!
What is point of care ultrasound?
Point of care ultrasonography (PoCUS) refers to ultrasonography performed and interpreted by the physician in real time at the bedside. Images provide immediate and dynamic information, permitting direct correlation with the patient’s signs and symptoms. In addition, PoCUS can be quickly repeated if the patient’s condition changes. Due to some comparable qualities to the physical exam, some authors have gone so far to call PoCUS a “visual stethoscope.”
What is the main objective of this symposium?
The primary goal of the ultrasound symposium is to equip medical students with the hands-on experiences needed to develop bedside ultrasound skills. This will be achieved via instruction from internationally recognized ultrasound experts and will be supported by state of the art facilities and ultrasound machines; live human and phantom models; and archiving software. In addition, senior medical students will play an important role in organizing the event and running workshops, making this a true student-driven education initiative.
The weekend event is jam-packed with opportunities for hands-on learning!
Symposium Agenda
Day 1 – August 23, 2014
| Time | Event | Location |
| 0830 | Registration & Light Refreshments | CSTAR Lobby |
| 0900 | Welcome & Program Overview | Multimedia Theatre |
| 0915 | Keynote Address by Dr. Robert Arntfield Dr. Arntfield is an emergency physician, intensivist, traumatologist and an enthusiastic and passionate advocate for utilizing PoCUS in many clinical areas. As a clinician-educator, he is co-director of ED ultrasound at Western and director of critical care ultrasound at Western. |
Multimedia Theatre |
| 1000 | Ultrasound Fundamentals Before launching into the many hands-on sessions, students will participate in an interactive discussion on the fundamentals of ultrasound; including principles governing transducer function and image generation. This session provides students with a theoretical framework with which to approach the rest of the weekend. |
Multimedia Theatre |
| 1045 | Break | |
| 1100 | Cardiac Ultrasound Through practice on standardized patients, students will gain an approach to the different views of cardiac examination and gain a visual perspective on cardiovascular anatomy and pathophysiology. In particular, students will appreciate how cardiac ultrasound can help achieve focused clinical goals, including assessment for pericardial effusion, global cardiac function and intravascular volume status. |
Skills Lab |
| 1230 | Lunch | CSTAR Lobby |
| 1330 | Lung Ultrasound During this session, students will be introduced to the principles behind lung ultrasound and will gain practice using ultrasound in their pulmonary evaluation. This will include instruction on how to identify a pneumothorax, alveolar and interstitial edema, and pleural effusion. |
Skills Lab |
| 1430 | Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma FAST is a non-invasive and critically important bedside assessment tool for timely diagnosis of life-threatening conditions, particularly in the setting of trauma. Led by experienced emergency physicians and trauma surgeons, students will learn a systematic approach to detecting “hidden” bleeding within the abdominal cavity or around the heart. |
Skills Lab |
| 1530 | Focused Obstetrical & Gynecological Ultrasound Students will learn to appreciate sonographic obstetrical and gynecological anatomy. Findings of early pregnancy and free fluid in the female pelvis will be discussed. In addition, students will have an opportunity to perform transabdominal scans on live models as well as practice transvaginal ultrasound on phantom models. |
Skills Lab |
| 1630 | Free Scanning Time | Skills Lab |
| 1700 | End of Day 1 | CSTAR Lobby |
| 1930 | Social Event Further details to follow. |
TBA |
Day 2 – August 24, 2013
| Time | Event | Location |
| 0830 | Registration & Light Refreshments | CSTAR Lobby |
| 0900 | Ultrasound in Medical Education | Multimedia Theatre |
| 0930 | Aorta, Hepatobiliary & Renal Ultrasound During this session, students will be introduced to the role of ultrasound in the examination of the abdominal aorta, gallbladder and kidney. Focus will be on the specific clinical applications of this exam and will include instruction on how to identify an abdominal aortic aneurysm, hydronephrosis, and sonographic signs of acute cholecystitis. |
Skills Lab |
| 1100 | Procedural Ultrasound Students will appreciate the use of ultrasound guidance in reducing complications of commonly performed procedures that traditionally rely on superficial anatomic landmarks. Hands-on experience will include ultrasound-guided central line placement and delivery of regional anesthesia. |
Skills Lab |
| 1300 | Lunch | CSTAR Lobby |
| 1400 | The POCUS Games An afternoon of fun and competition. Students will form alliances in competition for the elusive Western SonoCup! Put your new found sonography skills to the test as you race against other teams to solve cases, scan patients and perform procedures. While only one team can win, all students will have the opportunity to self-scan and archive images of their own internal organs to bring home as “sono-venirs”. |
Skills Lab |
| 1630 | Closing Remarks | Multimedia Theatre |
| 1645 | End of Day 2 | CSTAR Lobby |
Registration Now Open!
If you would like to promote this event to students at your institution, feel free to use our promotional poster, or provide the link to this page.
Promotional Offer: Register by June 2, 2014 and you will automatically be entered for a chance to win free registration (value $329)! In addition, each of the following will provide an additional entry into this competition:
1) Join the Point of Care Ultrasound Interest Group (Western students only)! Existing interest group members will receive automatic entry.
2) Follow Western Sono on Twitter! Existing followers will receive automatic entry.
3) Like Western Sono on Facebook! Facebook followers will receive automatic entry.
Draw held on August 24, 2014. Credit card used for online payment will be refunded.
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