Getting Started In POCUS -An Outstanding Free e-Book And Other Resources

The best resource, by far, to get started in point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is Manual of Ultrasound For Resource Limited Settings from Partners in Health. It is available free online. The link is to the complete PDF. Note to myself: I’ve saved this outstanding e-book on my desktop and my tablet.]

I believe that every primary care clinician (medical physician, chiropractic physician, nurse practioner, emergency medical technician, paramedic or physician assistant) can and should become competent in point of care ultrasound (POCUS). And this is the first of a series of posts on how to accomplish this task.

And in the spirit of FOAMed (Free Open Access Medical Education) I am glad to help you get started. Just e-mail me your questions or problems and I’ll see if I can help come up with a solution either by e-mail or phone (which ever you prefer). And of course I never charge anything for helping anyone (whether individuals, group practices, or hospital primary cares) learn primary care ultrasound – that’s what FOAMed means.

Just e-mail me at tom@tomwademd.net and I’ll get back to you right away.

If you are brand new to point of care ultrasound (POCUS), I recommend the following to get a quick start [just start scanning today – you don’t really need to take a course. Try the suggestions below. You do, of course, need many proctored exams by an expert POCUS physician before you beginning interpreting your scans on your own. And you can do this via tele-ultrasound (see Point 6 below]:

To access YouTube videos relevant to POCUS, go to the category Ultrasound Imaging on this blog.

To access YouTube videos relevant to Pediatric POCUS, go to the category Pediatric Ultrasound Imaging on this blog.

For an interesting new POCUS scanner from Phillips, see Lumify.

  1. Purchase a good point of care ultrasound book and as you work through your book be sure to review relevant YouTube videos related to the chapters you are working on.
    1. Ma and Mateer’s Emergency Ultrasound, Third Edition Sep 27, 2013
      by O. John Ma and James Mateer
    2.  Introduction to Bedside Ultrasound: Volume 1, Matthew Dawson & Mike Mallin [Available only on I-Tunes]
    3. Introduction to Bedside Ultrasound: Volume 2 Mike Mallin & Matthew Dawson [Available only on I-Tunes]
  2. Review all the posts on this blog in the Category Ultrasound Imaging and in Pediatric Ultrasound Imaging . In these categories there are many links to free ultrsound teaching videos.
  3. Get a short term lease (say three months) of an ultrasound scanner for your practice.
  4. Pick a procedure to work on – perhaps, for example, pediatric abdominal ultrasound. For every child with abdominal complaints, see in what percentage of cases you can reliably find the appendix.
  5. Hire an expert ultrasound tech to work for you in your office, she or he could do medical assisting when not teaching and supervising your scan practice.
  6. If you practice somewhere where sonographers are not easily available to your office, consider setting up a tele-ultrasound link [See my blog post Low Cost Tele-Ultrasound! Posted on May 8, 2015].

 

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