If you attended the AIUM convention the past 2 years you may have heard mention of SonoSlam in passing. So what is it? SonoSlam is a medical student ultrasound competition and educational event. It was conceived as an idea to promote medical student ultrasound and was officially born in Orlando in 2015. A few members of the medical education committee were discussing how to get students more engaged in ultrasound at the national level. A national ultrasound student interest group had been formed and got behind the idea of nationalizing ultrasound activities for medical students. Many of us had been involved in regional events such as Ultrafest or had participated in Sonogames™, an emergency medicine resident ultrasound competition. As we brainstormed, SonoSlam came to fruition. We wanted this event to be more than a game, making sure to integrate education into the proceedings. Given the diversity of exposure to ultrasound in undergraduate medical education, the faculty wanted to ensure that this event would be appealing to students of all levels of experience. In addition, the unique offering of AIUM is that this event would be multidisciplinary. With these key components of education, competition, and a multidisciplinary approach SonoSlam was created. The inaugural SonoSlam was held in New York in 2016 with the winning team awarded the Peter Arger Cup, named after the famed radiologist who championed medical student ultrasound education at the AIUM. Seventeen teams from 12 different schools participated in this inaugural event with more than 30 faculty from across the country. This year in Orlando we grew to 23 teams from 17 schools from across the country—Oregon to New York to Florida and all in between. We had more than 50 faculty from a multitude of specialties, including emergency medicine, internal medicine, critical care, obstetrics and gynecology, radiology, and pediatrics. We plan to continue to host this event annually with the lofty goal of having representation from every medical school in the country. We hope to see you in New York March 24, 2018!

For more information about SonoSlam or if you are interested in getting involved please email us: sonoslam@gmail.com.

Written by Creagh Boulger, Rachel Liu, and Dave Bahner. Creagh Boulger, MD, RDMS, FACEP, is Assistant Professor, Assistant Director of Ultrasound, and Assistant Fellowship Director of Emergency Ultrasound at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Rachel Liu, BAO, MBBCh, is Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director of Point-of-Care Ultrasound Education at Yale University School of Medicine. Dave Bahner, MD, RDMS, FAIUM, FAAEM, FACEP, is Professor and Director of Ultrasound, Fellowship Director, Investigator, and Core Faculty at Ohio State University.

How do you make ultrasound education engaging? Do you have any ideas for bringing students from across the country together? Comment below or let us know on Twitter: @AIUM_Ultrasound.