Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is fast becoming an essential tool in modern medicine, yet access to adequate and appropriate training is still an issue for doctors wanting to introduce the technique into their everyday practice. Dr Sean Bennett and Dr Stephen D’Souza discuss the growing role of ultrasound education and the benefits it brings to the medical community.
Point-of-care ultrasound has grown tremendously in popularity over the past 25 years, proving a vital development in modern medicine and leading to significant improvements in patient management across a variety of clinical fields. However, as it is a relatively new technique, many of the consultants who routinely use POCUS did not receive ultrasound training at medical school and have had to learn ‘on the job’.
Technology tends to move faster than traditional medical training and, for many years, a gap has existed where doctors recognised the benefits ultrasound would bring to their practice, but lacked in-depth knowledge of the physics behind it, the skills required to acquire and interpret high quality images, and the ability to integrate this information into their clinical decision making.
As a result, ultrasound education is increasingly in demand and, over the last 10 to 15 years, training has developed in line with advances in technology, e-learning, and through feedback obtained from past courses. Many medical schools now include ultrasound education as part of the curriculum, although the training is of varying depth and application.
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