Austere and Preshospital Ultrasound Course
This course is not accredited by the Malta Further and Higher Education Authority. This course does give FAWM credits towards the WMS Fellowship.
The APUS course is a highly practical two-day introduction to diagnostic ultrasound course that is specifically designed for remote, austere and resource-limited environments. It is designed by physicians, interventional radiologists and critical care paramedics working in prehospital, A&E and hospital departments. It is tailored to specifically meet the needs of healthcare practitioners to enhance their clinical skills utilising diagnostic ultrasound.
The target audience are doctors, nurses, paramedics, and clinical medical officers who are working in resource-limited environments.
The APUS Course adopts the knowledge and practical skills that are recommended by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and provides
recommendations on the clinical applications of emergency ultrasound.
This course has been accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. It has been approved for Fellowship in the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM) credits through the Wilderness Medical Society. Actual credits awarded depend on personal credit needs and history. It is also accredited by the Australian College of Emergency Medicine.
Members of the College of Paramedics in the UK get a 10% discount
Course Content
Day One - Fundamentals of Ultrasound
Sample schedule
- Ultrasound fundamental concepts and knobology
- US in trauma and the eFAST exam
- Hands on eFast practice
- Renal and abdominal aorta practice
- Cardiac ultrasound
- Pneumothorax and pleural effusion
Day Two - Advanced Concepts
Sample schedule
- ICP assessment
- Vascular access (femoral, EJ and peripheral)
- US use in tropical medicine
- Haemodynamic monitoring
- Orthopaedic ultrasound
- Ultrasound guided nerve blocks
Instructor
Our CoROM faculty is drawn from MD PhD critical care consultants, cardiologists as well as masters-level paramedics with current experience as critical care and flight paramedics.
There will always be at least two faculty in the classroom to maximise the hands-on component of the course.
We have five different ultrasound options for you to familiarise yourself with what is currently available on the market for the healthcare provider working in remote, austere and resource-limited environments.
Upon completing this module, the learner will be able to:
- Understand and describe the basic physics of ultrasound.
- Interpret tissue echogenicity of an ultrasound image.
- Decide on the appropriate transducer for common bedside ultrasound exams. Determine the orientation of an ultrasound image.
- Assess the depth and gain of an ultrasound image.
- Recognise 2-D and M-mode ultrasound images.
- Understand the principles of limited cardiac ultrasound.
- Determine whether a casualty has Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) using POCUS
- Describe the normal ultrasound anatomy of various organs and recognize the ultrasound characteristics of various pathologic conditions.
- Perform Focused Assessments for Sonographic examination of Trauma patients (FAST) with abdominal injuries.
Accreditation
This course is not accredited by the Malta Further and Higher Education Authority. This course does give FAWM credits towards the WMS Fellowship.
Certificates are backed by the College of Remote and Offshore Medicine Foundation and give Fellowship credits towards the Wilderness Medical Society’s FAWM programme.
Online training
The APUS course starts with ten hours of online Moodle-based content. Completing the online content is mandatory. We provide these lessons and videos as a way for the delegate to get a head start on understanding the fundamental concepts of Ultrasound.
Classroom training
The two-day Ultrasound course will put your online learning to the test as we spend the majority of the classroom time with the machines.
You will be asked to use your fellow delegates for Ultrasound practice so please wear comfortable clothing. It is not mandatory and delegates can opt out of being used for ultrasound practice.
Clinical training
In order to have a full understanding of the use of ultrasounds in a clinical setting, you will have to spend some time in a diagnostic clinic where you can practice your skills on real patients.
We provide this clinical experience in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Click here to learn more.
