Tag Archives: Medical Education

SonoMojo USIG Toolbox

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An Ultrasound Interest Group (USIG) is student-run ultrasound education organization. To offer student-driven ultrasound education takes a little work and some organization. To make this easier we’ve developed a “How To” guide for starting, organizing, and running a USIG. It’s based on the experience of creating a USIG from nothing and managing it at a medical school without any ultrasound in the curriculum. Learn from our experience in creating student-sponsored ultrasound education and start your own USIG to bring ultrasound to your school!

Basic USIG Components

The basic picture of a USIG is student-organized ultrasound education. This takes place in the form of:

  • Hands-on ultrasound workshops
  • Interest group meetings
  • Independent study (using USIG provided self-study materials)
  • Group practice sessions (in ultrasound practice lab hours arranged by the USIG)
  • Optional but fun USIG features (USIG member of the month, Ultrasound Honors, case of the month, USIG twitter account, etc.)

The heart of the group is the hands-on teaching workshops that put ultrasound skills in the hands on the students. This uses “student mentors” to teach the hands-on components and faculty, when available, to give the lecture component of ultrasound education. The group also provides support for students interested in ultrasound. This comes in the form of creating a community, organizing curriculum integration efforts, and other features of the club (access to independent ultrasound practice, ultrasound competitions, FOAMed-based self study curriculum, etc.). More information about “Medical Student Driven Ultrasound Education” can be found in this presentation.

Starting a USIG

To start you will need student leaders. These are the people who will make ultrasound education a reality. We’ve outlined the essential components of USIG leadership below to help you get your USIG off to a strong start with a strong leadership model.

How to: Set Up USIG Leadership

After establishing your leadership, you will need to figure out ultrasound workshops. This is the most important activity of a USIG, so start working on this early! It’s going to provide your members with access to the ultrasound education that probably don’t have access to. Below you’ll find all the info you need to create hands-on ultrasound workshops.

How to: Create Ultrasound Workshops

Your also going to need a website! Having a site allows USIG students to quickly connect to USIG activities and essential info. It allows you to easily share ultrasound resources with USIG students, so you can orient them to the available ultrasound education resources and allow them easily access ultrasound learning whenever, wherever. And lastly, having a site makes your USIG more visible to students and medical school administrators. Highlighting the activities and success of your USIG and its members, and drawing attention to student interest in bedside ultrasound allows your USIG website to support efforts for ultrasound curriculum integration.

How To: Create a USIG Website

Example to check out: University of Kentucky USIG Site

You’ll also need some basic resources (like ultrasounds, money, instructors, etc.) for your USIG. Below are some helpful tips for getting the resources you need to start and maintain your USIG.

How To: Get Resources for Your USIG

Once you’ve gotten the basics elements of your USIG put together, it’s time to have some fun with it. There are lots of exciting and fun things you can do with your USIG! Like seriously cool features you can add to your USIG to make learning ultrasound even more awesome!

How To: Add Awesome Extras Your USIG

USIG Membership with Distinction & Ultrasound Honors Program

USIG Ultrasound Curriculum

When starting a new ultrasound education group, there is NO need to re-invent the wheel when it comes to curriculum! There are ton of great ultrasound education resources out there. We’ve sorted through all of them and collected the best of them into a comprehensive FOAMed-based curriculum. The SonoMojo FOAM Curriculum is broken down into learning modules by scan, so you can easily learn the scan of your choice. You can find the curriculum on our FOAMed Ultrasound Curriculum page HERE or download a copy.

FOAMed Ultrasound Curriculum

Ultrasound Curriculum Integration

Making an Ultrasound Elective

There’s no need to wait for your medical school administration or course directors to provide you with ultrasound education. Not only can you create ultrasound education through your USIG, but also through forming official ultrasound electives for yourself and your fellow ultrasound students. Most medical schools allow students to create independent study electives to satisfy their specific learning interests. Simply find a faculty sponsor and submit one of the elective request template below.

First/Second Year Ultrasound Elective:

Ultrasound Elective Request Letter – Introduction to Ultrasound Elective

Fourth Year Ultrasound Electives: 

Ultrasound Elective Request Letter – Advanced Ultrasound Elective (for EM students)

Ultrasound Elective Request Letter – Advanced Ultrasound Elective (for non-EM students)

Coming Soon… “How a USIG Can Promote Ultrasound Curriculum Integration” & “Collecting Data to Support Curriculum Integration”

Incorporating Ultrasound into Your Clinical Education

SonoMojo Vimeo: “Incorporating Ultrasound into Your Clinical Education at an Ultrasound Naïve Institution”

Keeping a Record of Your Scans

Demonstrate your experience by keeping a record of it. Document how many scans you’ve done and how much time you’ve put into learning ultrasound. Record these to know/document for residency applications, for ultrasound credentialing exams, or to measure your experience for your own knowledge. It’s easy. Just create a Google Form and add a link to the home screen of your mobile devices. When you complete a scan, tap the home screen icon, fill out the form (15 seconds max), and submit. Google forms will automatically log all your scans into a spread sheet and keep a record for you. The same goes for logging hours. Learn more about Google Forms HERE.

Sample: Ultrasound Scans Log & Sample: Ultrasound Hours Log

Coming Soon… “Guide: How to Incorporate Ultrasound into Your Clinical Education in an Ultrasound Naive Institution”

Why Ultrasound

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What is Bedside Ultrasound?

Bedside ultrasound is ultrasound performed by the clinician at the bedside to enhance your physical exam and provide direct visual guidance of medical procedures. Bedside ultrasound answers specific questions generated by history and physical exam using a focused ultrasound scan performed by a clinician. It’s also know as point of care (POCUS) and physician/clinician performed ultrasound.

In case your attention span is anything like mine I’ve included a shorter and a wordier explanation of why you should learn bedside ultrasound.

 The Argument for Ultrasound (in Less Words)

If you’re attention span is anything like mine, read this version.

As a Med Student you should learn bedside ultrasound because:

You care about your patients!

  • Ultrasound is faster, can be performed at the bedside, cost less than other imaging, and has no radiation.
  • Ultrasound improves patient safety and the quality of patient care.
  • You want to be an amazing physician someday soon and want to apply ultrasound in your clinical practice.
  • Ultrasound improves patient satisfaction (they feel like you care and that you’re actually doing something for them).

You want to be awesome at med school!

  • Better test scores in anatomy and other pre-clinical courses (seriously!)
  • Get immediate feedback on your physical exam (so your physical exam skills are actually accurate and you will be a rock star medical student)
  • Look super smart on your clinical rotations and actually improve your patients’ care!
As a Physician you should learn bedside ultrasound because:

Ultrasound improves patient care!

  • It is performed in real-time. There’s no delay between the clinical picture and imaging.
  • It’s cost effective, fast, and reduces radiation exposure.
  • It’s a superior test in many cases (for pneumothorax is US almost 100% sensitive).
  • It allows you to answer focused questions with ultrasound imaging (a bit like extending your physical exam in images), so you’re working with more information.
  • Patient satisfaction increases with bedside ultrasound use (because you’re actually at the bedside touching the patient).
  •  We’re talking serious evidence based medicine… there’s so muchliterature to support bedside ultrasound it will make your head spin!

Ultrasound will make you a better teacher of medicine!

  • It’s great tool for teaching pathophysiology and connecting the clinical picture to pathology.
  • Teach your med students and residents how to get immediate feedback on their physical exam findings using ultrasound.
  • Reinforce anatomy and physiology at the bedside.
  • Exposure to ultrasound education in medical school is increasing every day. Your medical students will know this. Learn ultrasound now, so they don’t leave you behind (or show you up on rounds)!

 

The Argument for Ultrasound (in More Words)

If you want to hear more about ultrasound, keep reading!

Why Should I Care as a Med Student?

Bottom line, point of care ultrasound improves patient care and your medical education. It’s inexpensive, fast, portable, improves patient care and safety, and provides real time information during physical exams and procedures. Because of this, ultrasound is being used in medical schools to enhance medical student education. Ultrasound education in medical school ranges from a four year integrated curriculum to none at all. Teaching ultrasound in physical exam courses improves medical students’ physical exam skills set. This not only provides student with ultrasound skills to apply to patient care, but also provides them with real time feedback on their physical exam. Ultrasound also improves anatomy and physiology education. In one study, students who received ultrasound education sessions in addition to their tradition anatomy curriculum scored 9% higher on their exams than their control (dissection without ultrasound) counterparts. Seriously… you’d be nuts not to learn ultrasound!!

Why Should I Care as a Physician?

Ultrasound makes you a better physician, period. It’s inexpensive, fast, portable, improves patient care and safety, and provides real time information during physical exams and procedures. It’s easy to learn and quick to perform. It  makes procedures easier by allowing direct visualization of the real-time. This improves procedure success rates, decreases procedure length, and significantly reduces complications. Ultrasound adds valuable information to patient care  in real-time without the delay and cost associated with other imaging. The applications are limitless. It can be used to assess the heart, lungs, abdominal organs, pelvis, soft tissue, muscles bones, ligaments, blood vessels, and… you get the idea. It also allows physicians to more wisely use limited healthcare resources, as it low cost. And if that’s not enough, it’s just good science! There are literally thousands of studies on bedside ultrasound improving patient care and being easy to learn. In many cases physician performed ultrasound are equal to or superior to other imaging modalities. The evidence is clear. Bedside ultrasound is just good medicine!

Another important consideration is the fact that two thirds of the world has no access to diagnostic medical imaging. Ultrasound is an ideal tool to drastically improve patient care in resource limited healthcare setting. It’s portable, inexpensive (think Vscan), and can be performed by physicians with a small amount training. Bringing ultrasound training to physicians in developing parts is a high impact act that drastically improves the quality of medical care for people that need it most!  Yet another reason physicians, especially those involved with global health, should learn ultrasound.