Objective

To expose 4th year medical students to bedside point of care ultrasound.

Overview

This is 2-4 week hands on rotation will serve as an introduction to emergency bedside ultrasound. Rotating students will be introduced to the core Emergency Medicine applications of bedside US (FAST, Cardiac, RUQ, Renal, DVT, Thoracic, Pregnancy and procedures) and will receive training in general ultrasound physics and principles as well as image acquisition and interpretation. Students will be expected to demonstrate competency in all three areas by the end of the rotation. The skills gained during the rotation will be applicable not just in the Emergency Department but in other fields utilizing bedside US.

Rotation Guidelines and Curriculum

The rotation consists of three components: clinical time, formal didactics and self-study.

Clinical Time

Clinical time will consist of 6-8 hour supervised scanning shifts in the ED. Students will be expected to complete 4 shifts per week in order to perform 250 ultrasounds by the end of the rotation. During scanning shifts students will be supervised both by the rotation director as well as other Emergency Department faculty and residents.

Didactics

Didactics will take place in the form of weekly lectures covering the basic principles and applications of emergency ultrasound. In addition, students will participate in weekly QA and review processes that will allow for additional instruction and also serve as a way of assessing students' progress.

Self-Study

Students will be expected to complete assigned readings in Emergency Ultrasound Textbooks and to review instructional DVDs.

Students will also be expected to give a 15 minute presentation on a topic of their choice and complete a written test at the end of the rotation.

Evaluation

Rotation will be graded on a pass/fail basis and grades will be determined by performance on all aspects of the rotation.