Ultrasound Elective

This four-week elective is designed to introduce 4th year medical students to the use of point-of-care (POC) ultrasound in the emergency department. Students will receive hands-on training as well as a variety of didactics to learn the basics of emergency ultrasound. Students will be given required readings and attend lectures to help develop background knowledge of each of the main areas of emergency ultrasound, which include: Physics/Instrumentation, Biliary, Renal, Aorta, EFAST (Extended Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma), Cardiac, Transabdominal Pelvic, Deep Venous Thrombosis, Skin/Soft Tissue/Musculoskeletal, Procedural. Further, they will be given the opportunity to practice and develop their skills by scanning patients in the emergency department with the ultrasound faculty and independently on designated scanning shifts. Images and videos will be saved electronically for review at the weekly image review sessions.

This elective is designed to give students with an interest in emergency medicine the opportunity to develop their ultrasound skills prior to residency and gain additional exposure to patient care in the emergency department. During this elective, students will be provided the time and mentorship to develop advanced skills in bedside emergency ultrasound. All students will participate in designated 3 hour hands-on instructional sessions with an ultrasound faculty member. They will also have assigned 4-hour scanning shifts where they will scan patients in the emergency department. The student will be expected to complete a minimum of 100 scans during their rotation. These will be kept in a log by the student, along with any confirmatory studies to correlate with their scans.

Curriculum

Orientation session and pretest
Individual 3-hour hands-on scanning sessions with the ultrasound faculty
Ten 4-hour scheduled scanning shifts
Attendance at the weekly emergency medicine conferences on Tuesday from 8a-12p and every other Wednesday from 8a-11a
Completion of reading material and computer-based ultrasound tutorials
Participation in weekly image review sessions of departmental EUS scans.
Review their minimum of 100 documented ultrasound scans for the rotation with ultrasound faculty and respond to feedback
Final case-based EUS presentation to be given at the final weekly image review session of the student’s rotation
Post-rotation ultrasound review test

Application

The Emergency Ultrasound elective will be overseen by Dr. Meera Muruganandan. Preference is given to students choosing a career in emergency medicine. Each student must email Dr. Muruganandan to explain their specific interest in the emergency ultrasound elective for approval. BU students may sign up for the elective by completing an Add/Drop Form and bringing it to the Clerkship Coordinator. Any questions regarding block availability should be directed toward the Clerkship Coordinator. Please also include your email address, phone number, and beeper number on the form so that we may send you confirmation and information regarding the rotation. Sorry, but faxed or emailed forms are not accepted.

For students from other medical schools to sign up for the elective, this must be done via VSAS. There is no paperwork accepted directly to the department for students from outside schools. Once your VSAS form is approved you may contact the Clerkship Coordinator for available dates.

Additional information can be found on the BUSM Fourth Year Course Catalog.