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Point of Care Ultrasound Fellowship Columbia - Program Details

Overall program goals

Fellows will:

  • Develop skills in the use ultrasound at the point-of-care in outpatient and inpatient settings, learning a wide range of core ultrasound applications. These are constantly growing, and a certain degree of flexibility is allotted to better develop additional skills in different settings. 
  • Educate medical students, residents, and practicing physicians in the use of POCUS, conduct research and participate in ultrasound quality improvement projects.
  • Receive active mentorship and instruction in faculty development skills, helping to foster professional growth in academic medicine.

Core POCUS fellow education

Fellows participate in a wide range of POCUS education, to include:

  • Weekly image review sessions.
  • Weekly planned educational experiences, to include presentations based on the defined curriculum, morbidity and mortality conferences, journal review, administrative seminars and/ or research training.
  • Weekly didactic/proctored scan sessions with faculty.
  • Monthly journal club.

Ultrasound core content area

By the end of the fellowship, fellows should be able to understand, apply and teach the following core ultrasound topics:

By topic for all fellows:

  1. Physics and instrumentation
  2. General abdomen and bowel ultrasound
  3. Abdominal aorta ultrasound
  4. Basic and advanced echocardiography
  5. Hepatobiliary ultrasound
  6. Renal ultrasound
  7. Vascular ultrasound
  8. Soft tissue ultrasound
  9. Musculoskeletal ultrasound
  10. Chest, lung, and airway ultrasound
  11. Ocular ultrasound
  12. Ultrasound guided procedures
  13. Ultrasound program administration

By topic for advanced applications for IM fellows:

  1. Critical care ultrasound

By topic for advanced application for FM fellows:

  1. Endovaginal ultrasound of the female pelvis
  2. Pediatric abdominal ultrasound
  3. Pediatric lung ultrasound
  4. Thyroid ultrasound
  5. Sports medicine ultrasound

Educational sites

  • Fellowship educational activities will primarily be at Prisma Health Richland hospital, a tertiary, urban academic center.  Instruction and educational activities will also be based at the UofSC SOM Ultrasound Institute, as well as at the Prisma Midlands Simulation Center.

Clinical work sites

  • IM track fellows generally attend on inpatient wards for the IM residents.
  • FM track fellows generally work shifts in the ambulatory setting to include faculty clinic and ultrasound procedure clinic, with some wards.

Research/scholarly activities

  • Assist in developing and implementing outcome measures for educational programs.
  • Develop knowledge of processes for IRB review, grant proposal submission and journal-specific publication.
  • Develop and implement a clinical research project for point-of-care ultrasound application and submit the results for presentation or publication.
  • Attend CME activities and ultrasound-related meetings.

Education and teaching

  • Develop and conduct presentations in classroom, small group, and bedside settings across a wide range of learners, including students, residents and practicing physicians.

Fellow faculty development

  • Fellows will receive ongoing individual career mentorship and faculty development instruction in small group settings.
  • Fellows receive ongoing instruction in basic teaching skills, giving feedback, fostering appropriate learning environments, curriculum development and presentation skills.