I just got back from the 2nd Annual UCI UltraFest – a FREE (yup, you read that right, FREE!) medical student ultrasound workshop held at UC Irvine this year for any and all medical students in California who want to come and learn bedside ultrasound using simulation and live models along with hearing about the future and international ultrasound. It’s getting a lot of press – as it should. It started off with an idea that came by one of my friends and mentors, Dr. Chris Fox (an ultrasound guru in his own right), and with the help of his medical students (Lancelot Beier, Kiah Bertoglio, and MaryJane Vennat), they organized faculty from all over California (UCI, Stanford, UCLA, USC) from multiple specialties. As Chris states “If I can give medical students the confidence and curiosity to want to use ultrasound all the time, then I feel they will take better care of their patients, and will provide more accurate care without turning to radiation.” You know how many medical students showed up? about 300. On a Saturday. During their free time. Some even wore a tie! …even when they ate from the free taco truck at lunch (yum!).
For even more pics go here.
You know what that means? They want to learn it …and it should be incorporated into all medical school curriculums. It has been well studied to improve their learning in anatomy, physiology, and pathology… not to mention their patient care in their clinical years. It’s time. I’m excited to host it at Stanford for 2014!
The Dean of the School of Medicine at UC Irvine gave a quick speech welcoming the medical students about “Healthcare”: the practice, the word, and the meaning – and how that relates to ultrasound:
In a recent addition of the AAMC reporter, they discuss the FIRST ultrasound workshop held for the AAMC members and how medical students, like Kiah Bertaglio, at UC Irvine, feel the need for ultrasound in medical education is a must. I posted about this fun AAMC event, that I was lucky enough to be a part of with some of my heroes, previously for your reading pleasure while SUSME and AIUM announced 2013 as the Year of Ultrasound (YOU) – highlighted by AIUM Ultrasound First group, the Life in the Fast Lane bloggers, the Ultrasound Podcast folks, and, of course, little ole’ me on SonoSpot while highlighting the ACEP US Section and the immense amount of social media interest/bloggers/tweets on the topic of bedside ultrasound.
In the AAMC Reporter. they state: “With rapid advancements in ultrasound technology, …a handful of the nation’s medical schools make ultrasound training a standard part of the curriculum. And there is a push to encourage more schools to use ultrasound….South Carolina is one of the first schools to implement a four-year interdisciplinary ultrasound curriculum. The program started in 2006 and is based on a training model for emergency medical workers. First- and second-year students learn how to read scans during lectures and lab sessions and through Web-based learning modules. In the third and fourth years, students use hand-held ultrasound devices to examine their first patients…..Richard Hoppmann, M.D., dean at South Carolina who also helped form SUSME, considers hand-held ultrasound devices the “stethoscopes of the 21st century.” “The technology is already here. What is lagging behind is the health care workforce who is knowledgeable and skilled in the appropriate use of these devices,” said Hoppmann, who stressed the importance of proper training….This portability allows doctors to perform bedside exams to detect acute emergencies such as internal bleeding, collapsed lungs, and intestinal obstructions. Ultrasound can be used to guide catheters with more accuracy, decreasing patient discomfort and saving time for staff. In addition, ultrasound is safer than other types of imaging because it does not emit potentially harmful radiation.
[A medical student said “It makes it exponentially easier to see real things, happening to real patients in real time. You are better able to identify something if you have seen it before.”] He added that seeing things in real time has a powerful effect on patients. Clarkson recalled one patient who, after viewing fluid buildup impairing his heart and kidneys on an ultrasound, realized he needed to improve his diet and take his medication….Like South Carolina, the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine (UC Irvine), offers a four-year fully integrated ultrasound curriculum—the only one of its kind in California. What started in 2003 as a fourth-year elective in emergency ultrasound has expanded across the entire continuum….Students at UC Irvine have shown an extracurricular interest, organizing an Ultrasound in Medical Education Interest Group with guest lecturers and hands-on sessions. …Kiah Bertaglio, a third-year medical student at UC Irvine, helped arrange [UltraFest]. “The response was overwhelming and shows how important tomorrow’s doctors and health care workers see portable ultrasound becoming. It provided an incredible opportunity for students to learn and improve bedside ultrasound skills in multiple fields,” she said. Efforts to reach this goal are picking up at medical schools and teaching hospitals. The emergency medicine department at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, East Virginia Medical School, and Wayne State University School of Medicine are incorporating ultrasound residency programs and fellowships. If this trend continues, Hoppmann predicts the technology could become a core competency that will enhance patient care across the board.”
SonoSpot: Topics in Bedside Ultrasound 