Acquiring POCUS skills extends medical education and offers significant benefits that would ultimately improve patient management and outcomes. This program is offered to our NICU staff, including Neonatal fellows, Attendings, and APPs.
An outline of the training program is as follows:
Didactic lectures with mastery testing:
- Online on-demand SonoSim: teaching modules that cover US basics, anatomy and physiology, clinical pathology, and procedural skills.
- Provide didactic lectures as well as a US probe with a virtual simulator.
Scanning protocols education:
- A written framework of standardized steps that ensures images, measurements, and video clips are properly acquired.
Hands-on lectures and scanning:
- Weekly hands-on educational session, including live patient scanning
- For procedures such as vascular access, Phantom models will be used.
Competence evaluation:
- Multiple choice questions after every didactic lecture
- Objective Structured Assessment of Ultrasound Skills (OSAUS) scale for POCUS performance
Examples of Neonatal POCUS clinical and procedural modules
US Clinical Modules
- Upper Airway (anatomy, ETT position)
- Lung (RDS, BPD, Pneumonia, pleural effusion…)
- Cardiac (functions, PDA, pulmonary hypertension, pericardial effusion)
- Intestine/Biliary (NEC, biliary atresia, ascites)
- Renal/bladder (hydronephrosis, ectopic kidney, bladder volume, bladder wall thickening)
- Aorta/IVC (central line position, thrombus, fluid status)
- Soft tissue (infiltrate)
- Head US
US-Guided Procedural Modules
- Peripheral venous access
- Central venous access insertion and line position confirmation (UVC, UAC, PICC)
- ETT position
- Pleural effusion tap and chest tube placement
- Pericardial effusion tap
- Ascites tap and peritoneal drain placement
- Suprapubic tap
- Spinal tap
Point-of-care ultrasound research studies.
- Neonatal fellows will be involved in POCUS-related clinical research or quality improvement studies and will present their findings in conferences and manuscripts.