Mount Sinai Emergency Medicine Ultrasound

On March 22, 2012 the Division of Emergency Ultrasound will host its annual hands-on CME course at Mount Sinai. Targeted at clinicians in emergency and critical care settings, the course consists of presentations by national faculty and plenty of hands-on scanning with live models.

Course highlights:

• Basic to advanced topics covered
• Organ system-based approach to bedside ultrasound use
• Faculty with international experience in ultrasound education
• Diagnostic applications as well as procedure guidance covered

Both experienced sonographers and neophytes will benefit from small group sizes and an interactive course design.

Additional information is available on the CME Course Page, or download our Mount Sinai Ultrasound CME course brochure 2012.

Registration for the course is open!

Fellows Leila PoSaw and Gene Chan attended the NYSORA (New York School of Regional Anesthesia) Winter Symposium held on December 17-18, 2011 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel on Broadway.

In addition to the expected excellent lectures and educational sessions, there was a new needle guidance system being demonstrated which may be of benefit to clinicians performing ultrasound-guided procedures.

The SonixGPS system by Ultrasonix uses a sensor in the ultrasound transducer and another in the needle to track the needle’s trajectory and tip placement. The system can work in any direction: in-plane or out-of-plane. Needle trajectory is displayed as a graphic on the main screen, and orientation with respect to the transducer is modeled in the lower right. The system promises the ability to plan out their trajectory before needle placement as well, thus facilitating decisions regarding optimal entry points.

Please note that no members of our ultrasound division have a financial relationship with Ultrasonix.

Wonderful news from AIUM in this week’s Sound Waves Weekly.

AIUM Officially Recognizes ACEP Emergency Ultrasound Guidelines
November 17, 2011

In keeping with the AIUM’s overarching mission of advancing the safe and effective use of ultrasound in medicine through education, research, and development of guidelines, the AIUM recognizes the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Policy Statement Emergency Ultrasound Guidelines as meeting the qualifications for performing ultrasound in the emergency setting. These guidelines describe the education and training required by emergency physicians to achieve competency for the performance of focused emergency ultrasound applications in clinical practice.

AIUM President Alfred Z. Abuhamad, MD, expanded on the importance of this resolution, stating, “Recognition of the ACEP Emergency Ultrasound Guidelines by the AIUM helps ensure that focused emergency ultrasound examinations are performed safely and that physicians performing the ultrasound examinations have met a minimum level of competency as hereby defined. AIUM recognition of the ACEP guidelines can pave the way for collaboration between the two organizations. Furthermore, AIUM recognition provides support and standardization for hospital credentialing of emergency physicians in the performance of the focused emergency ultrasound examination.”

Focused emergency ultrasound examinations are performed at the bedside to diagnose acute life-threatening conditions, guide invasive procedures, and treat emergency medical conditions. Focused emergency ultrasound has been proven to improve the care and expedite treatment of countless patients worldwide.

Michael Blaivas, MD, emergency physician and chair of the AIUM Emergency and Critical Care Ultrasound Community stated:“The recognition by the AIUM is a major milestone for both societies as well as point-of-care ultrasound in general. The AIUM has been able to adapt and grow, not only in membership but also in diversity, by embracing and helping the spread of ultrasound into the point-of-care practice setting for a wide range of clinical applications. The ultimate beneficiaries of this recognition are our patients as ultrasound spreads more widely to help patients who are suffering from acute and chronic illness or undergoing potentially dangerous or painful procedures.”

The AIUM anticipates future collaborative efforts with the ACEP on the use of ultrasound in the emergency medicine setting.

The SAEM Resident Education Committee for Bedside Ultrasonography has published a series of modules designed to used for resident education.  This is another excellent resource out there for anyone teaching bedside ultrasound, and amounts to a mini-textbook.

Take a look here.

This is the companion website for the Mount Sinai Emergency Ultrasound Division. It serves as an information resource for residents, fellows, and others seeking additional information about point-of-care ultrasound. There is a lot of information here, so please explore the site and send us your feedback. To make things easier for new users we’ve condensed some of the highlights here:

• Tutorials on the FAST exam, cardiac ultrasound, obstetrics, pneumothorax assessment, etc. as well as how to use the S-Cath and M-Turbo ultrasound machines.
• Information on our ultrasound division Faculty
• Ultrasound CME course information
• Selected faculty Publications
• Information about the ultrasound Rotation and Manual