Empowering OB/GYN Trainees Through Point-of-Care Ultrasound: Bridging Imaging and Clinical Care

Posted on December 9, 2025 by aium1952

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has rapidly become an essential advancement in modern clinical practice. By bringing real-time imaging directly to the bedside, POCUS allows the same clinician who examines the patient to also visualize anatomy, assess pathology, and immediately act on findings. This integration of imaging and decision-making has made POCUS indispensable across multiple specialties, and obstetrics and gynecology are no exception.

The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) has long recognized the importance of standardization and quality in ultrasound practice. Its Practice Parameter for the Performance of Point-of-Care Ultrasound¹ provides clear specifications for evaluating the abdomen, retroperitoneum, thorax, heart, and extremities for deep venous thrombosis. These guidelines form the foundation for ensuring that the benefits of POCUS—speed, accuracy, and accessibility—are balanced with safety and quality.

POCUS in Everyday OB/GYN Practice

Within obstetrics and gynecology, POCUS is a natural extension of bedside care. On labor and delivery units, it enables rapid assessment of fetal presentation, amniotic fluid, and placenta and fetal well-being through biophysical profiles. In emergency and postoperative settings, clinicians can use POCUS to quickly evaluate for intraperitoneal free fluid, aiding in the diagnosis of ruptured ectopic pregnancy or postoperative bleeding.

Evidence continues to support the diagnostic reliability of POCUS in OB/GYN. For instance, Boivin et al² evaluated its accuracy in diagnosing retained products of conception in 265 patients. They found that point-of-care ultrasound demonstrated a sensitivity of 79% and specificity of 93.8%, validating its value in streamlining diagnosis and guiding timely management.

Training Gaps and the Case for Structured Education

Despite its broad applicability, ultrasound training in OB/GYN residency and MFM fellowship remains highly variable. Currently, emergency medicine is the only specialty with formal requirements for ultrasound training and credentialing. This gap has led to inconsistent proficiency among new OB/GYN graduates, even though ultrasound is fundamental to the specialty.

A structured curriculum in POCUS can address this gap. Training should combine didactic instruction, hands-on scanning, and supervised image review, building both technical skills and diagnostic reasoning. Defining competency benchmarks and maintaining image portfolios reviewed by credentialed sonographers or MFM faculty can help standardize skill acquisition and ensure quality.

Expanding POCUS Applications in Obstetric Critical Care

POCUS offers unique advantages beyond fetal and gynecologic imaging, particularly in the management of acutely ill obstetric patients. In the setting of hypertensive disorders, sepsis, or peripartum cardiomyopathy, bedside ultrasound can provide immediate insights into maternal cardiopulmonary status.

Lung ultrasound helps identify pulmonary edema, distinguishing cardiac from non-cardiac causes of dyspnea.
Cardiac views allow assessment of contractility and pericardial effusion.
Inferior vena cava (IVC) measurements help estimate fluid status and guide resuscitation in acutely ill patients.

Learning Early, Learning Effectively

Training in ultrasound doesn’t have to wait until residency. Vyas et al³ demonstrated that even first-year medical students could perform a basic obstetric triage scan after only twelve hours of training. Students correctly identified fetal lie, placental location, amniotic fluid index, biparietal diameter, and head circumference in more than 90% of cases, showing that structured, feedback-driven instruction can produce reliable results even among novice learners.

Sustaining Competence Through Practice

Ultrasound is a skill that requires repetition, reflection, and review. A comprehensive program should integrate longitudinal opportunities for scanning, image storage, and expert feedback. Access to curated image archives can help trainees build pattern recognition and diagnostic confidence. Incorporating POCUS assessments into rotations, such as emergency triage, obstetric critical care, or ultrasound electives, reinforces learning through real-world application.

Conclusion

Point-of-care ultrasound represents both an art and a science, merging clinical intuition with immediate visual data. For OB/GYN residents and MFM fellows, POCUS is not simply a diagnostic adjunct but a core competency that enhances patient safety, efficiency, and confidence at the bedside.

By embedding structured POCUS training and competency assessment into OB/GYN education, we can ensure the safe and effective use of ultrasound in medicine. Doing so ensures that the next generation of clinicians will not only interpret images but truly see their patients more completely, more immediately, and more compassionately.

References

1. American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. AIUM Practice Parameter for the Performance of Point-of-Care Ultrasound Examinations. J Ultrasound Med 2021; 40(8):E34–E52. https://doi.org/10.1002/jum.14972

2. Boivin J, et al. Utility of Point-of-Care Ultrasound in the Diagnosis of Retained Products of Conception. J Obstet Gynaecol Can 2020; 42(4):440–446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogc.2019.08.026

3. Vyas KS, et al. Point-of-Care Obstetric Ultrasound Training for First-Year Medical Students in Rural Settings. J Ultrasound Med 2018; 37(3):715–722. https://doi.org/10.1002/jum.14404

Ruchira Sharma, MBBS, MD, FACOG, is a Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialist, Director of MFM Fellowship, and Director of the Obstetric Ultrasound and Antenatal Testing Unit at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Sara Buhmaid, MD, is a Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellow at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Ruchira Sharma, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ. 10/25/2021 Photo by Steve Hockstein/HarvardStudio.com

Ultrasound in Medical Education: The Person Behind the Probe

Posted on April 30, 2024 by aium1952

In this blog post, we are going on a trip.

That’s right, let’s go on a trip back in time.

Think back to your first time picking up an ultrasound probe.

What did it look like? Who was instructing you? What were you scanning?

Did you feel confused? Lost in the little black and grey lines wiggling in unison with every movement of your hand.

Was your mind filled with wonder and awe at the ability to see right through the skin in real time? Or were you struck with confusion and pessimism? This isn’t practical. There’s no way I (or my specialty) will need to use this.

For some of us, the first time touching an ultrasound probe was a very long time ago, for others (like myself) it was just a few short months ago.

I am fortunate that my institution has incorporated ultrasound into our medical curriculum. We have had access to handheld ultrasound probes from the very first month of medical school. We are taught the physics behind sound waves and tissue echogenicity. We are encouraged to complete online modules, take ultrasound quizzes, and practice scanning as much as we can.

Hours have been spent scanning myself and my peers, trying to figure out what is what. Our faculty advisor aptly dubbed the ‘ultrasound champion’ showed us the ropes of how to improve our scanning. He was readily available, willing to explain, and quick to show what different views look like.

When he took on a different position, us students quickly found out that an ultrasound is only as good as the person behind the probe. Without our ‘ultrasound champion’ around, we quickly hit a glass ceiling, unable to elevate to the next steps in our scanning abilities.

In the ‘champion-less era,’ we have found other sources of knowledge. From online resources provided by the AIUM, YouTube, POCUS101, and SonoSim we are able to see what different views can look like. We have reached out to faculty, and they have been quick to give us bits of knowledge or take part in scanning sessions when they are available. We have collaborated with other schools in state-wide competitions, have begun scanning at student-run free health clinics, and attended AIUM conferences. We are getting better.

I view ultrasound medical education curriculum and the opportunities afforded by surrounding myself in scanning as the ultimate bridge between preclinical studies and my future in clinical medicine. The hands-on attribute of scanning mixes well with time in the books. No matter which specialty I choose, ultrasound will be a part of it as point-of-care sonography continues to grow into the scope and forefront of medical practice. While most of my ultrasound exploration has been done independently, having access to an ‘ultrasound champion’ was critical in my initial interest and excitement for ultrasound. One that I wish I still had access to.

The future of ultrasound is bright, and I am excited to share that many medical students coming up in training are extremely excited about ultrasound. We want to get better. We also need ‘ultrasound champions’ to be the catalysts that make us better.

If you are an ultrasound champion at your institution, I encourage you to keep the excitement that you felt when mastering ultrasound. You are helping your students unlock that ability.

If you have not yet taken steps to share your ultrasound skills, I urge you to share your knowledge with someone who may benefit from it, whether the person is a training nurse, a medical student like me, or even a colleague. If you have the desire to make ultrasound education a cornerstone of your practice, explore becoming the ‘ultrasound champion’ at your institution.

We need you behind the probe, showing us how it’s done so that we can be the ones behind the probe for years to come.

Brian Villa is a second-year medical student at a 4-year MD program in Florida, USA. During his very brief time in the medical field, he has taken a strong liking to point-of-care ultrasound and ultrasound in medical education. He is the leader of the Ultrasound Student Interest Group at his institution and has been included in conversations regarding ultrasound curriculum. He enjoys abdominal and thoracic ultrasound and his favorite view (as an avid fisherman) is the parasternal short axis ‘fish mouth’ mitral valve view.

Where to Find What’s New in Ultrasound and Education

Posted on February 7, 2023 by aium1952

As the use of ultrasound is expanding at a greater rate than ever, both as a diagnostic tool and in treating injuries and diseases, keeping up-to-date on all of the changes can be a struggle. In an upcoming symposium, however, you can explore new, exciting, and current technologies in ultrasound. Identify the different approaches to diagnostic ultrasound and determine which ultrasound techniques can help you advance your practice at “Can You Do That With Ultrasound?” on March 26, 2023, at UltraCon.

This symposium is an exciting new approach to discovering the technical advancement of ultrasound and applications across all subspecialties with collaborative interactions and networking opportunities to enhance the experience. It will begin with a discussion with John Pellerito, MD, Luis O. Tierradentro-Garcia, MD, Emile Redwood, MD, and John K. Hill of three abstracts with cutting-edge content regarding assessing cerebral blood flow in neonatal hydrocephalus, analyzing gene expression, and robotics-assisted transabdominal cerclage in pregnancy.

Next, with images and clinical histories, you will be able to review cases and discuss how each specialty group would approach the systems using different ultrasound techniques and instrumentation. Jon Jacobson, MD, Humberto Rosas, MD, Margarita Revzin, MD, MS, FSRU, FAIUM, Misty Blanchette Porter, and Stephanie Gisele Midgley, MD, will facilitate the discussion on state-of-the-art scanning techniques and innovative technology. Following that, John Pellerito, MD, will assist you with networking and crowdsourcing the answers to your questions. Then, industry representatives, expert clinicians, and expert researchers will also take questions.

Another symposium, “Everyone Can Be an Effective Ultrasound Educator” will also be happening that same day. Filled with practical and effective strategies and techniques to improve your teaching skills, Todd D. Zakrajsek, PhD, the keynote speaker, will share his thoughts on the foundational aspects of learning and relatively easy ways to teach while considering the diversity of learners today, as well as dispel learning myths and traps that hinder the learning process.

This symposium will feature a total of 8 engaging and interactive sessions for attendees to rotate through in groups:

“Active Learning, Learning by Doing,” led by Charlotte Henningsen, MS, RT(R), RDMS, RVT, FSDMS, FAIUM, Rebecca J. Etheridge, EdD, RDMS, and Sara Durfee, MD, will show you how to apply creative and meaningful activities designed to enhance the teaching and learning environment.
“Case-based Teaching: Let’s Have a Shared Learning Experience,” led by Iryna Struk, MS, RDMS, RDCS, RVT, and Jennifer Cotton, MD, will offer strategies for using case-based learning (CBL), an established approach used across disciplines where learners apply their knowledge to real-world scenarios, promoting higher levels of cognition.
“Good Job. Keep It Up. Effective and Ineffective Feedback Strategies in Ultrasound Education,” led by Creagh Boulger, MD, Lauren D. Branditz, MD, and Christine M. Schutzer, RT, BS, RDMS, will review the literature and techniques for effective feedback and assessment.
“Designing Virtual Lectures: A Necessary Challenge,” led by Kevin J. Haworth, PhD, Petra Duran Gehring, MD, RDMS, and Jacob Avila, MD, will review concepts in lecture design to increase student learning.
“Gaming: Trendy Buzz Word or Effective Educational Tool?” led by Creagh Boulger, MD, and Rachel Liu, MD, will be a hands-on activity to solve your needs in education and how you can apply gaming as an effective, evidenced-based strategy for assessment, learning, and engagement.
“Old School, New School, Best School,” led by Linda Zanin, Jennifer Cotton, MD, Lee Shryock, and Michelle Haines, will help you determine which new and exciting technologies are worth the investment and how you can integrate them into your curriculum.
“Social Media and Education,” led by Kevin J. Haworth, PhD, and Chris Fox, MD, discusses ways in which social media can be used to improve teaching and learning.
“The Impact of Emotional Intelligence in Education,” led by Charlotte Henningsen, MS, RT(R), RDMS, RVT, FSDMS, FAIUM, David Bahner, MD, and Hilary L. Davenport, DO, will provide tools that can help strengthen students’ emotional intelligence, which can positively impact relationships, academic success, and work performance.

In addition, this symposium includes “Learn From Our Learners,” in which former and current students (Creagh Boulger, MD, and Jennifer Cotton, MD) will share things that have worked well, experiences that have not worked well, and ideas they have for ways ultrasound can be better utilized in education.

All of this is just what is available on the first day of symposia at UltraCon. Check out the Full Schedule to get a sneak peek at everything you could learn.

Cynthia Owens, BA, is the Publications Coordinator for the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM).

Ultrasound Education in United States Medical Schools

Posted on January 24, 2023 by aium1952

Although nearly every medical specialty uses ultrasound, medical schools are inconsistently integrating ultrasound education into their curriculum. According to a 2019 study (by Nicholas et al) of United States Accredited Medical Schools (USAMS),¹ although integration of ultrasound into curricula has increased since a prior study in 2014 (by Bahner et al),² ultrasound instruction is still inconsistent.

In the fall of 2019, researchers contacted 200 allopathic and osteopathic USAMS for the Nicholas study.¹ Of those schools, 168 (84%) responded and, of those, 122 (72.6%) indicated they have an ultrasound curriculum.

Of the medical schools that responded, 46 (23%) indicated they did not have ultrasound curriculum.¹

Although this study did not look into why they did or did not have the curriculum, some barriers clearly still remain to incorporating it, such as those mentioned in a 2016 study by Dinh et al³: lack of funding, lack of trained faculty, and lack of curricular space.

According to the Nicholas study, it seems as though some of the schools (42) work around the lack-of-funding barrier by having volunteers as faculty. Only 35 (20.8% of those who responded) compensate their faculty and, of those, 22 (13.1%) are compensated monetarily.¹And when schools can’t afford their own ultrasound machines, some have found other means, such as borrowing hospital ultrasound equipment.³ Other means of helping to distribute the cost of starting up a program include gradually adding classes, using near-peer teaching, and self-directed asynchronous learning using online resources and simulators.³

As medical students who have learned about ultrasound have reported that it improves their understanding of anatomy and physical examination skills, and more specialties adopt this technology, students need to learn about it before they need to use it in clinical practice.¹

Although more schools keep adding ultrasound to their curricula, it is not yet nationwide, and many who have succeeded had to struggle to make it happen. It is imperative that USAMS receive the funding and support they need to train medical students in the safe and effective use of ultrasound.

References

Nicholas E, Ly AA, Prince AM, et al. The current status of ultrasound education in United States medical schools. J Ultrasound Med 2021; 40:2459–2465. https://doi.org/10.1002/jum.14333.
Bahner D, Goldman E, Way D, Royall NA, Liu YT. The state of ultrasound education in U.S. medical schools: results of a national survey. Acad Med 2014; 89:1681–1686.
Dinh VA, Fu JY, Lu S, Chiem A, Fox JC, Blaivas M. Integration of ultrasound in medical education at United States medical schools: A National Survey of Directors’ experiences. J Ultrasound Med 2016; 35:413–419. https://doi.org/10.7863/ultra.15.05073.
Tarique U, Tang B, Singh M, Kulasegaram KM, Ailon J. Ultrasound curricula in undergraduate medical education: a scoping review. J Ultrasound Med 2018; 37:69–82. https://doi.org/10.1002/jum.14333.

Cynthia Owens, BA, is the Publications Coordinator for the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM).

What if Ultraportable Ultrasound Devices Were the Future of Healthcare in Africa?

Posted on October 18, 2022 by aium1952

The improvement and miniaturization of ultrasound devices is a result of the need to make ultrasound devices quickly accessible regardless of location. The right diagnosis at the right time in the right place can take you a step ahead in this race for point-of-care diagnosis.

Developed countries have experienced very significant direct and indirect impacts on the quality of care for patients in acute care and those who are hospitalized. However, if in these countries, ultrasound has made it possible to bypass certain additional examinations (standard radiography, CT, MRI, etc) for certain precise indications despite the latter being nevertheless available, it can be deduced logically that under certain conditions, point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) would have an even greater impact in settings where other modalities are simply not available.

Indeed, developing countries and areas with limited resources often have in common a lack of diagnostic imaging means: old, non-mobile X-ray machines with little or no function at all and you’ll rarely find CT or MRI, and when you do, it is inefficient except in concentrated, large cities.

Add to this an extremely limited electricity supply, which significantly reduces the effectiveness of the existing means even further. It directly results in the impossibility of full-time operation due to power cuts, and indirectly through breakdowns and the gradual deterioration of the equipment related to variations in electrical voltage.

These various problems make Africa extremely fertile ground for the use of clinical ultrasound (POCUS) with exactly the same benefits as those obtained in other better-developed regions, but better still the absence of other means of diagnosis, which could lead clinical ultrasound to become the “gold standard” for clinical diagnosis in African.

The problem, however, is the availability of the devices, especially the type of device. Indeed, the devices currently present in Africa are either static or relatively portable (more than 10kg), which poses a real problem of mobility for an imaging modality that could otherwise be performed at the patient’s bedside.

Ultraportable devices with their small size, their resistance, their autonomy, and their low energy requirement could be a valuable diagnostic aid in Africa. However, there remains the problem of their availability (most manufacturers limit their network to developed countries) and their cost (due to the low purchasing power of practitioners in developing countries), the very idea of obtaining one at its actual cost is completely illusory.

What if the manufacturers of ultraportables developed strategies to support doctors who want to equip themselves and the educated societies with POCUS, set up conventional classroom-based training courses and E-learning free or at a reduced price for all doctors wishing to learn?

Yannick Ndefo, MD, is a general practitioner in Cameroon and a POCUS ambassador for POCUS Certification Academy.

Interested in learning more about ultrasound in global health? Check out these posts from the Scan:

Live Outside of Your Comfort Zone: Ultrasound Education

Posted on September 20, 2022 by aium1952

Earlier this year, I attended a new-to-me scientific meeting—the 21^st meeting of the International Society for Therapeutic Ultrasound (ISTU) in the beautiful city of Toronto. As I sat in sessions immersed in topics ranging from immunotherapy of liver tumors with histotripsy, to sonogenetic neuromodulation, to focused ultrasound for alleviating the pain from bone metastases, I was overwhelmed. And I was humbled by the vast swaths of knowledge that were nearly completely foreign to me, despite being a senior academic who does research in the field of biomedical ultrasound. I know less about the immune system than I should, and I don’t quite get the nuances of genetics and the brain—well, let’s just say that I like to use mine, but I am unaware of how it all works. I spent a lot of the meeting learning the background to the background of these areas so that I could understand more and better appreciate all the amazing science.

It was a pain and totally out of my comfort zone, but it was exhilarating! I learned so much, and I now appreciate the challenges, opportunities, and potential impact of this field much more than I did before. I met the brilliant physicians and scientists who were all more than willing to enlighten me about the details of their work and their up-and-coming innovations. It was refreshing. As I listened, I thought about the big picture and the potential impact of all this work on patient care and where the field will go in the future.

You may be thinking—why did I choose to attend this meeting? Why did I not go to a conference that was more aligned with my area of research? The answer is simple—I wanted to learn new things. I wanted my students to be exposed to innovative research directions and world experts in a related but distinct area. I wanted to better understand the evidence supporting the research so that I can shape my views with data, not dogma or hearsay. I also contributed a bit by sharing our group’s work on nanobubbles and the lessons we have learned from mostly diagnostic imaging research with these agents that can be applied to therapeutic strategies with focused ultrasound. I am most grateful to the organizers for having the foresight to explore how our research can complement therapeutic ultrasound applications and for inviting me to deliver one of the invited talks. I walked away, ready and inspired to foray into the intimidating world of ultrasound-mediated immunotherapy. Armed with the lay of the land and having met the pioneers of this field, I think the foundations we learned at this meeting will shape the next 5–10 years of our research.

I want to encourage all of you to expose yourself, your colleagues, and your trainees to new concepts, new science, and new clinical approaches. Be open-minded to change, think, consider the evidence, and make rational, data-driven decisions as you move forward with your clinical practice, research, and day-to-day obligations. Educate yourself in the new research and translational directions in the field. The world of biomedical ultrasound is complex, multidisciplinary, and rich with burgeoning ideas that will someday revolutionize clinical practice. Many recent innovations, like the focused ultrasound treatment of essential tremor, are doing so already.

Live outside of your comfort zone—it will refresh and energize you, and it will stimulate new ideas that may someday save one patient, or save the world. Of course, it’s fine to do things as you’ve always done and stay where it’s cozy and comfortable, but I promise you will enjoy it if you venture beyond, even a little bit. Enjoy your summer and science on!

Agata A. Exner, PhD (@AgExner; Agata@case.edu), is the Henry Paine Willson Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Radiology at Case Western Reserve University & University Hospitals of Cleveland.

Where it Matters Most

Posted on August 9, 2022 by aium1952

The infant, carried by her father, had been vomiting for several days. The patient’s history was consistent with pyloric stenosis, but there were still other differential diagnoses to consider. The surgeon caring for the patient was trained in Morocco and France. He was an excellent physician who returned to his community in the small coastal country of The Gambia in West Africa. The physician needed diagnostic ultrasound to confirm or refute the presumed diagnosis. He was plagued by indecision at the prospect of performing unnecessary surgery on the infant. The patient had traveled at great cost and distance to arrive at the only tertiary care center in the country. Her family needed help and if they could not find it here, they were out of options.

At the invitation of the surgeon, I was taking the entire attending physician group from every specialty available through a point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) course. The course was tailor-made for surgeons, despite having representatives present from internal medicine and pediatrics. It was reasoned that the largest immediate gains would be from trauma care, ultrasound-guided procedures, and confirmation of surgical diagnoses and complications. The amount of blunt trauma and blind procedures including liver biopsies was staggering.

Each day focused on problem-based and group learning, with gamification and competition built it. The goal was to keep the learners engaged and follow up with deliberate practice every afternoon. The surgeon would bring patients from the hospital who required diagnostics, which were unavailable until now. Patients made the trek up 2 flights of stairs, where we were teaching in the only air-conditioned space. Conditions that would be identified early in high-resource regions are often elusive without the necessary diagnostics. With POCUS, we identified patients with heart failure, pneumonia, bowel obstructions, appendicitis, and complications of pregnancy. We also identified conditions that are less readily seen in high-resource health systems such as rheumatic heart disease and hepatic abscesses.

The surgeon confirmed the diagnosis of pyloric stenosis during our POCUS course. He took his patient to the operating theater with confidence and she did well postoperatively. Ultrasound continues to make a lasting impact in The Gambia. Together, we are building a sustainable program that will incorporate POCUS into all graduate medical education. POCUS impacts care wherever it is used by trained professionals, but in my experience, it is the single most important diagnostic tool in low-resource health systems.

Michael Schick, DO, MA, MIH, FACEP, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director of International Ultrasound at UC Davis Medical Center.

Interested in reading more about POCUS medical education? Check out these posts from the Scan:

Getting Sonography Students Hands-on Experience

Posted on January 25, 2022 by aium1952

As the Program Director of a Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP)-accredited General sonography program, I have a request for all OB/GYN practices. Please open your practice to accept sonography students. The future of the OB sonographer depends upon it.

If schools cannot provide graduates with good entry-level OB skills, there will not be enough sonographers to fill the OB sonography positions within private practices and this includes the MFM specialties.

Student rotations are down because the sonographers are too busy to allow students to scan. I have been given the following reasons why they are too busy:

Patients are scheduled every 30 minutes all day.
Work-ins are expected to be added daily into the already booked schedule
It is not uncommon for a single sonographer to perform 15–20 patients per day.
There are usually no breaks except for lunch, maybe.
Some practices have more than one sonographer but each performs the same amount of studies so there is no relief person to help out.

This type of scheduling (over-scheduling) sets up a whole new set of questions.

How long can one sonographer sustain such a schedule without suffering from burn-out and choose to leave employment?
How long can one sonographer sustain such a schedule without suffering from repetitive stress injuries that will force their retirement?
If sonographers are having to rush through studies to get all of the patients through, what are they missing?
What is the satisfaction level of the patient who feels they are on an assembly line when getting their sonogram? I do believe this is one reason many “peek-a-boo -see your baby” businesses are flourishing; OB patients want to experience fetal bonding with their families, time for which the private practice schedules do not allow. (“The AIUM advocates the responsible use of diagnostic ultrasound and strongly discourages the non-medical use of ultrasound for entertainment purposes.” See The Issue with Keepsake Ultrasounds for more information.)

Although there is value in observation, which the students may be allowed to do, nothing can replace a hands-on experience with supervision and instruction. And, yes, labs help, but the accrediting bodies require our students to scan patients not models.

For at least 2 decades, educators have struggled to find OB clinical sites that would allow their students to gain the scanning skills needed to complete their clinical competency exams, which are required for graduation. With no resolution in sight, even the Joint Review Committee on Education in Diagnostic Medical Sonography (JRC-DMS) and CAAHEP have recognized that some General accredited programs could not meet all the standards and, therefore, have now provided us a way to separate out the specialties. This allows for the deletion of the OB specialty from their accredited programs. This is a way for educators to deal with the problem of not being able to gain access to 2nd- and 3rd-trimester OB patients for their students, but it will ultimately be bad news for the OB community in general.

I believe the sonography community is an intelligent and creative group. We can find ways to integrate students into a busy environment. I actually have some clinical sites that do a very good job of it. I encourage you to think outside of the box and let’s get creative so that the schools will be able to provide qualified graduates when they are needed. If we don’t, we will begin seeing private OB “cross-training” on the job, again.

Is that what we really want? Comments, opinions, rebuttals, suggestions are encouraged and I look forward to reading them all.

Kathy A. Gill, MS, RT, RDMS, is a Program Director of the Institute of Ultrasound Diagnostics in Spanish Fort, Alabama. Kathy has been a Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer since 1977 and has been involved in sonography education for 30+ years.

Interested in learning more about ultrasound in medical education? Check out the following posts from the Scan:

Do More With Less: Ultrasound

Posted on August 24, 2021 by aium1952

Life is not always easy, sometimes you just have to manage with what you have. To work with limited resources is one of the skills you acquire once you are a primary care physician and particularly in Africa.

This is also true concerning point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS); it is possible to do more with less. If you really understand how it works, you can find new ways to use your tools to get the correct diagnosis.

Now, I want to share with you the case of a 53-year-old male patient whose major complaint was joint pains, particularly in the left wrist and knee. Upon physical examination, the joints were warm, swollen, and painful. I hypothesized that the diagnosis was a primary gout episode but in my health facility I don’t have a uric acid test that I would ordinarily use for confirmation of the diagnosis. I then performed a POCUS examination to confirm the diagnosis by looking for the double contour cartilage line, which is a sign of gout in joints due to uric acid deposit at the surface of bone cartilage. I didn’t have a linear high-frequency probe, so I used an endocavitary probe just as you can see in the pictures.

Ultrasound images of the knee showing the double contour sign indicative of gout.

POCUS can greatly increase healthcare in low-income countries. Usually, the healthcare gap between upper-income and low-income countries is huge but, with POCUS, the same technics can be applied to both, with the same results, if ultrasound devices are available.

However, the problem remains that there is a lack of healthcare professionals who are skilled enough to use it and teach others. The problem is no longer an absence of devices but is now due to an absence of knowledge of how to use them.

Fortunately, due to COVID-19 lockdowns, we know almost everything that can be taught online. Therefore, it is time for us to think about establishing a new way to teach, learn, and practice ultrasound. Many ultrasound societies, such as the AIUM, ISUOG, and EDE, have started to share free POCUS education on their websites. Free online courses should be encouraged since they will lead us to the democratization of ultrasound, particularly in low-resource settings.

Yannick Ndefo, MD, is a general practitioner at St Thomas hospital in Douala, Cameroon.

Interested in learning more? Check out the following posts from the Scan:

A Model Citizen

Posted on October 22, 2019 by aium1952

“Lie down on your back, your elbow is about to get a lot of gel on it,” said the proctor during our most recent AIUM headquarter course. As staff, we often have to step in and assist at meetings in ways we had not planned. This moment was not any different, but we do it because we want to understand and enhance the attendee experience. Turns out I have a “beautiful” elbow and yes, some of you beginners are pressing too hard.

Sonographer Haylea Weiss scanning Jamie Parreco’s ankle.

As I had my second joint scanned, I thought, what a cool experience; my body is going to help advance the safe and effective use of ultrasound. I found myself offering to volunteer any chance I could, having my elbow, ankle/foot, and shoulder scanned in the end. I listened, watched, and learned as attendees explored.

So why am I telling you this? As a program/meeting planner, it was valuable for me to see things from a model’s perspective: Parreco ankle scan

You really should wear comfortable clothes.
Gel really will get all over you.
Talking to the attendee can help them learn.

Here at the AIUM, we offer great opportunities for models to get involved at our annual meeting and courses, but for those of you who have not gotten on one of those exam beds as a model in a while, I encourage you to do so. Everyone learns on that bed; ultrasound grows on that bed; your future sonographers and physicians need you on that bed.

We have a unique opportunity to provide true hands-on experience in our field and I encourage you to support that in any way you can. Who knows, you may learn a thing or two about your body as well. #snappinganklevictim

Have you ever been a model for a hands-on ultrasound course? Share your experience below, or, AIUM members, continue the conversation on Connect, the AIUM’s online community.

Connect_digital_graphics_E-NEWSLETTER

Jamie Parreco is Director of the Events and Continuing Education Services department at the AIUM in Laurel, Maryland.

The Scan

The official blog of the AIUM

Tag Archives: medical education