Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Aug 1;5(4):e10700.
doi: 10.1002/aet2.10700. eCollection 2021 Aug.

Design of a point-of-care ultrasound curriculum for pediatric emergency medicine fellows: A Delphi study

Delia Gold  1 , Marla Levine  2 , Deborah Hsu  3 , David P Way  4 , Allan E Shefrin  5 , Samuel H F Lam  6 , Resa Lewiss  7 , Jennifer R Marin  8 ; PEM POCUS Curriculum Task Force
Collaborators, Affiliations

Design of a point-of-care ultrasound curriculum for pediatric emergency medicine fellows: A Delphi study

Delia Gold et al. AEM Educ Train. .

Abstract

Objectives: There has been a steady increase in the growth and utilization of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in pediatric emergency medicine (PEM). POCUS has been established as an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) core requirement for accreditation of PEM fellowship programs. Despite this requirement, training guidelines regarding POCUS knowledge and skills have yet to be developed. The purpose of this project was to develop a curriculum and a competency checklist for PEM fellow POCUS education.

Methods: We formed a core leadership group based on expertise in one or more key areas: PEM, POCUS, curriculum development, or Delphi methods. We recruited 29 PEM POCUS or ultrasound education experts from North America to participate in a three-round electronic Delphi project. The first Delphi round asked experts to generate a list of the core POCUS knowledge and skills that a PEM fellow would need during training to function as an autonomous practitioner. Subsequent rounds prioritized the list of knowledge and skills, and the core leadership group organized knowledge and skills into global competencies and subcompetencies.

Results: The first Delphi round yielded 61 POCUS areas of knowledge and skills considered important for PEM fellow learning. After two subsequent Delphi rounds, the list of POCUS knowledge and skills was narrowed to 38 items that addressed elements of six global competencies. The core leadership group then revised items into subcompetencies and categorized them under global competencies, developing a curriculum that defined the scope (depth of content) and sequence (order of teaching) of these POCUS knowledge and skill items.

Conclusions: This expert, consensus-generated POCUS curriculum provides detailed guidance for PEM fellowships to incorporate POCUS education into their programs. Our curriculum also identifies core ultrasound knowledge and skills needed by PEM fellows to perform the specific POCUS applications recommended in prior publications.

Keywords: curriculum; fellowship; medical education; pediatric emergency medicine; point‐of‐care ultrasound.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no potential conflicts to disclose.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flow diagram of the Delphi process
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
POCUS curriculum checklist for PEM fellows: a list of core competencies and subcompetencies organized from basic to advanced. Some subcompetencies involve content that crosses levels of performance. For example, the ability to “define an ultrasound artifact” is considered a basic skill that shows a rudimentary understanding of ultrasound physics, whereas “characterizes common ultrasound artifacts like shadowing, enhancement, mirror images, etc.” is considered a slightly higher level of knowledge and skill, since it involves the application of knowledge to recognize and provide examples of artifacts and being able to explain how they interfere with scan interpretations. AAP, American Academy of Pediatrics; ACEP, American College of Emergency Physicians; PEM, pediatric emergency medicine; POCUS, point‐of‐care ultrasound
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Moore CL, Copel JA. Point‐of‐care ultrasonography. N Engl J Med. 2011;364:749‐757. - PubMed
    1. American College of Emergency Physicians Emergency Ultrasound Section Writing Committee . ACEP Policy Statement, Ultrasound Guidelines: Emergency, Point‐of‐Care, and Clinical Ultrasound Guidelines in Medicine. American College of Emergency Physicians. June 2001 (revised June 2016). Accessed November 9, 2020. https://www.acep.org/globalassets/sites/acep/media/ultrasound/pointofcar...
    1. ACGME Program Requirements for Graduate Medical Education in Emergency Medicine. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. 2020. Accessed May 7, 2021. https://www.acgme.org/Portals/0/PFAssets/ProgramRequirements/110_Emergen...
    1. The Emergency Medicine Milestones Project . Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the American Board of Emergency Medicine. 2015. Accessed April 5, 2020. http://www.acgme.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Milestones/EmergencyMedicineMileston...
    1. Marin JR, Lewiss RE; American Academy of Pediatrics , Committee on Pediatric Emergency Medicine , American College of Emergency Physicians , Pediatric Emergency Medicine Committee . Point‐of‐care ultrasonography by pediatric emergency medicine physicians. Pediatrics. 2015;135(4):e1113‐e1122. - PubMed