Fellowship Experience

Fellows will become technically excellent sonographers. They will become experts in image acquisition, image interpretation, and application to patient care.

• 1000 completed, technically adequate, ultrasound exams. The fellow will record clips of all studies completed in the FM and ED department (be stored on Qpath).
• Attendance of weekly curated Quality Assurance (QA) sessions.
• Scanning at the bedside with ultrasound faculty in the ED and FM department to demonstrate proficiency in image acquisition and interpretation.
• Training of ultrasound-guided procedures.

During the course of fellowship, the Fellow will transition from trainee to teacher of POCUS. The Fellow will teach a wide range of POCUS topics to learners at a variety of skill levels in diverse practice environments.

• Creation of several lectures to present at weekly Tuesday morning US didactics and Wednesday resident lectures in both departments.
• Development of teaching skills of medical students, EM/FM residents, ultrasound track residents, and EM/FM faculty during scanning shifts.
• Prepare curated QA sessions with targeted questions, tips, and feedback to attendees of US didactics for both departments.
• Engage in ultrasound education in the ED, inpatient wards, Family Medicine clinics, Medical School, Pediatric ICUs.
• Complete an educational project with focus on family medicine curriculum development, implementation, improvement, and/or evaluation.

Fellows at U-M are part of a team dedicated to the advancement of POCUS education and research, and only as a team does UM US succeed. To that end, Fellows will engage in collaborative research.

• Development, submission, and completion of at least 1 IRB-approved US project.
• Complete at least 1 publication in manuscript form, including one piece of original research to be submitted for peer-review. (Desirable)
• Involvement in research projects underway within the Department which may include contributing to the development of the research project, subject enrollment, manuscript authorship.
• Submit at least 1 abstract for presentation at a national or international level EM, FM, or ultrasound conference.
• Participation in monthly US Research meetings.

The Fellow will gain a comprehensive understanding of ultrasound administration, including documentation, billing and coding, QA, ultrasound machine maintenance and purchasing.

• Become facile with Qpath, understand the role of departmental QA and how to provide constructive feedback to clinicians when images are inadequate or incorrectly interpreted, and management of critical errors.
• Become familiar with ultrasound machine maintenance, working with vendors, understand the important factors in ultrasound machine purchasing.
• Become familiar with common opportunities and challenges of operating a POCUS program within a hospital system.
• Become familiar with standard practices in ultrasound billing and coding.
• Select and complete an administrative project to gain experience in ultrasound operations.
• Remain current with national ultrasound organizations, controversial issues, advances in ultrasound technology and social media resources.