Show me the POCUS
This website contains all the essential elements for you to be successful in your POCUS journey. It contains all elements you will be expected to know on graduation and much more. Since the idea is to guide you and not overwhelm you, the website also tells you what NOT to focus on if your priority is to get up to speed with what our specialty is requiring at the moment. At the introduction of each chapter you will be reminded if its is an integral portion of your examination process or not. Specifically when the use of the word Beyond is implemented here you are not required to have this element for examination purposes. Click here if you would like to learn more about the POCUS learning process. Click here to save images to a thumb drive for later review. If you are here looking for the introduction to your POCUS elective your read below.
The following are the areas of focus for your exam:
Don't Panic, Start Here
POCUS Elective
At the time of this publication, the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at Augusta University is offering a 2 week elective to those individuals in their CA-3 year. This website offers the educational content that satisfies what is expected of residents when graduating from the program. The aim of the program is to achieve competence through repetition and feedback which implies a highly motivated independent resident.
Your first day. You should have an initial orientation with the ultrasound director at the start of your rotation. Here the goal is to orient you with the ultrasound machine and to do an initial evaluation of your ultrasound skills. Please have a thumb drive with you at all times since this is the tool the program will have to evaluate your progression. Your day to day will involve doing POCUS examinations that start with pre cardiac bypass TEE, POCUS examinations in the ICU and PACU (or holding) and the Perioperative Clinic. It will end with a post cardiac bypass TEE.
Educational expectations. The resident is encouraged to complete organ based specific ultrasound content contained in this website. This includes all items listed above under Don't Panic, Start Here. Additional material is still available to the resident should there be additional interest in any particular area. We recommend starting with organs first before dwelling into the physics chapter. The resident is also strongly encouraged to complete the cardiac ultrasound question bank at the beginning of the rotation. The resident should check with the faculty member who is non-clinical to review the images/clips collected and use the ultrasound imaging standard to evaluate the quality of the clips taken so that there is feedback on your proficiency as a sonographer.
Clinical expectations. At this our POCUS examination has not been integrated into the PACS system. This is the reason we ask that you provide a thumb drive to collect the clips/images. Ask permission before collecting POCUS information. This website also provides you with the steps needed that you can collect this information effectively. This images should be uploaded on your institutional box drive. After collecting the information and reviewing the data you may be asked to provide an impression of your findings to the attending who is in charge of patient care. As of now we expect that you collect at least 20 Heart exams (not including the TEE daily examinations), and 10 of each other organ system (Lung, Gastric).
The POCUS group