Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellow Training in Ultrasound: Consensus Educational Guidelines

Abstract

The importance of point-of-care emergency ultrasound (EUS) to the practice of emergency medicine (EM) is well established, and mounting research continues to demonstrate how EUS can benefit pediatric emergency department (ED) patients. As members of the EM community, pediatric EM (PEM) physicians should understand the potential value of EUS and seek opportunities to incorporate EUS into their daily practice. Currently, EUS education and training is at an early developmental stage for PEM fellows and varies greatly between programs. The goal of this article is to provide consensus education guidelines and to describe a sample curriculum that can be used by PEM fellowship programs when developing or revising their US training curricula. The authors recognize that programs may be at different stages of EUS development and will consequently need to tailor curricula to individual institutional needs and capabilities. This guideline was developed through a collaborative process between EUS educators and members of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section of EM Fellowship Directors Subcommittee. The guideline includes the following topics: important considerations regarding EUS in PEM, PEM US program framework, PEM US curriculum, PEM US education program, and competency assessment.ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2013; 20:300-306 © 2013 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine E mergency ultrasound (EUS) refers to point-ofcare US performed and interpreted at the patient's bedside by the treating physician to facilitate patient care in the emergency department (ED). Emergency physicians (EPs) use EUS for the resuscitation of critically ill patients, the diagnosis of patients with specific signs or symptoms, monitoring patients with rapidly changing clinical conditions, and the guidance of invasive procedures. The importance of EUS to the daily practice of EPs is underscored in policy statements published by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). The most recent ACEP policy statement includes comprehensive guidelines for the use of EUS in emergency medicine (EM) and summarizes recommendations for EUS training for EM residents.1 The training recommendations in this guideline mirror education guidelines delineated in consensus recommendations from the 2008 Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors' conference. 2The use of EUS by pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) physicians is expanding rapidly, and PEM-specific applications are increasingly being described and studied.3-5 EUS is listed in the American Board of Pediatrics core content guidelines for PEM fellowship training, and questions related to EUS appear on the subspecialty certification examination for PEM. In a recent survey of PEM fellowship directors, 95% of PEM programs endorse the use of EUS in their EDs.6 Still, no specific guidelines exist for the training of PEM fellows, and consequently, education varies greatly. The number of programs offering US education to their PEM fellows has increased significantly over the past 4 year...

Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Pediatric Clinical Care

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Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) telemedicine project in rural Nicaragua and its impact on patient management

“…As an evolving component of medicine, point of care ultrasound (POCUS) spans across multiple specialties and applications, such as military medical personnel, trauma evaluation, pediatric emergency departments and neonatal intensive care units, and even expanding its utility to aerospace science [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. Recent studies have described POCUS as being easily taught to medical personnel with a high degree of accuracy [1,9,10].…”

The Effect of Point‐of‐care Ultrasonography on Emergency Department Length of Stay and Computed Tomography Utilization in Children With Suspected Appendicitis

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