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!”

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.

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 

Day 2 – August 24, 2013 

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.

Several months in the making, this initiative represents a remarkable partnership between medical students, residents and faculty from a wide range of clinical departments and divisions at Western University and the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.  The Canadian Surgical Technologies & Advanced Robotics (CSTAR) facility and staff were extraordinary hosts for the August 24 and 25 weekend event.  The Hippocratic Council at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Canadian Federation of Medical Students are to be graciously acknowledged for providing financial support.  SonoSite Canada, Philips Canada, General Electric Canada and Siemens Canada are valued corporate partners through their generous donation of ultrasound equipment for the two-day symposium.  We are grateful to Matt Dawson and Mike Mallin of the Ultrasound Podcast for recording a memorable episode of the podcast specially for the symposium and also for providing participants with the iBook version of Introduction to Bedside Ultrasound.  Many thanks are also in order for the dedicated group of volunteers who acted as standardized patients throughout the weekend.  Lastly, we want to recognize the passionate group of forward-thinking medical students from across Ontario who dedicated a summer weekend to participate in this innovative educational experience.

Feedback from participants, instructors and organizers alike tout the symposium as a resounding success.  Beginning with Dr. Robert Arntfield’s outstanding keynote address and ending with a fierce battle for the Sono Cup (congrats to Team 5!), the symposium represented an informative and engaging educational event that has established a versatile foundation for students to build on in future training.  Much data was collected over the weekend by event organizers, the results of which will be revealed in a formal study in the near future.  Nonetheless, it is already apparent that participants overwhelmingly hold the view that POCUS is a motivating educational tool that compliments and enhances formal training in anatomy, physiology and clinical medicine.  Organizers and instructors alike were impressed by the enthusiasm maintained by participants over the course of two eight-hour days of education, whose eyes repeatedly lit up as they witnessed anatomy and physiology come to life on the ultrasound screen.

Many professional relationships were established among participants, who are well-positioned to become POCUS student leaders at their home institutions.  The local POCUS interest group at Western University looks forward to collaborating with students from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, the University of Ottawa, Queen’s University and McMaster University who are looking to establish similar groups at their institutions.  We hope the energy generated by the symposium persists well into the future. The planning committee is already looking forward to making this an annual event.

Below are some photos from the weekend.  In addition, the following are the members of the medical student planning committee and the various instructors who supported the event.  Thanks again for your help!

Medical Student Planning Committee: Chris Byrne (Meds 2014), Mike Clemente (Meds 2015), David Mainprize (Meds 2015), Ryan McLarty (Meds 2015), Nick Packer (Meds 2015), Sofia Nastis (Meds 2015), Weiang Yan (Meds 2015), Evan Ailon (Meds 2016), Josh Burley (Meds 2016), David Linton (Meds 2016), Angie Smith (Meds 2016)

Faculty & Resident Instructors: Robert Arntfield, Drew Thompson, Su Ganapathy, Ramiro Arellano, Dave Ouellette, Derrick Pringle, Heather Hames, Alberto Goffi, Jonathan Brookes, Raymond Kao, Ceara McNeil, Samir Raza, Kirstin Weerdenburg, Kate Hayman, Chris Lee, Matthew Slessarev, Rakesh Sondekoppam, Vishal Uppal, Brad Moffat, Pat Murphy

• To take place August 24 and August 25 at the state of the art Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics facility at London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario
• Imagined and organized by a group of medical student leaders at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University
• Recipient of the Hippocratic Council Innovator Grant and Canadian Federation of Medical Students Student Initiative Grant
• Ultrasound equipment provided by SonoSite Canada and Philips Canada
• Event officially endorsed by the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians
• Nationally attended event, with 36 students (and a 20 person wait list) from 8 different Canadian medical schools participating
• Over a dozen faculty and residents volunteering their time in support of the event
• Special appearance by internationally recognized experts in bedside ultrasound, Matt Dawson and Mike Mallin
• Primary goals:
  (1) For participants to acquire new knowledge and skills proving useful in their future medical education and careers;
  (2) To ignite a passion for bedside ultrasound that participants will share with colleagues at their home institutions; and
  (3) To generate momentum for formally integrating more point-of-care ultrasound training in undergraduate curricula

To Canadian medical students:  We do hope to make this an annual event. Consider following Western Sono on Twitter to ensure you’re one of the first to hear about next year’s symposium!

The medical student organizers of this year’s event have put together a comprehensive workbook that they hope serves as a valuable resource both during the symposium and beyond.  Anyone can access this workbook by clicking on the image below.  Be sure to return to Western Sono in early September for photos and a recap of the event.