Letting the Outsiders In! A Postgraduate Certificate in Diagnostic Ultrasound for Emergency Medicine Clinicians

Diagnostic Ultrasound has a well recognized role in the evaluation of patients across the spectrum of clinical practice. Technological advances have improved image quality, while making the functionality and ease of use better. This has resulted in more compact systems becoming available at more affordable prices. Over the past 10 years there has been an increase in the development of the point of care application of this skill, in particular at the bedside by clinicians looking to complement their traditional forms of patient assessment. This has been most evident in some of the acute specialist practices, such as Emergency Medicine, and other critical care practices, as well as some out-patient and primary care environments. In this article we describe some of the training and educational challenges inherent in the development of imaging skills by nontraditional practitioners. We describe an innovative postgraduate award (Postgraduate Certificate) that has been specifically designed to provide a suitable educational structure for clinicians wishing to develop focused ultrasound skills. In particular we concentrate on the experience of the first cohort of students from Emergency Medicine who have completed the course successfully. We describe the experience related to the development of the course and the lessons learned from its provision. We argue that there is an increasing need for such courses across the spectrum of clinician ultrasound at the bedside and we look forward to further evaluation in the years ahead.