Point of Care Ultrasound. 4 Credit Hours

Catalog description

This elective is designed to introduce students to the use of diagnostic bedside ultrasound in the care of hospitalized medicine patients, and is paired with the Internal Medicine Residency Point of Care Ultrasound Elective. In addition to review of ultrasound physics and machine controls/transducers, students will obtain knowledge and skills in image acquisition, image interpretation and pitfalls/limitations of various cardiac, pulmonary, abdominal and vascular diagnostic ultrasound applications. Other topics include clinical integration of ultrasound skills into patients with shock, cardiac arrest, respiratory failure, and volume status abnormalities. Training will be accomplished with a combination of didactic lectures, provided self-study educational resources, image acquisition skills workshops at the Center for Clinical Ultrasound Education, supervised bedside ultrasound exams of hospitalized medicine/ICU patients and independent ultrasound scanning sessions. Each student is required to complete a portfolio of ultrasound examinations covering the scope of the course material, which will be reviewed with expert faculty on a weekly basis for quality assessment, image interpretation practice and further teaching. The elective is primarily designed for students pursuing residency with an adult inpatient focus. Students must have successfully completed Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Surgery and Emergency Medicine clerkships before taking this elective.