I was fortunate enough while in Broome at the ACEM Winter Symposium to meet Dr James Rippey, who helps run the amazing Ultrasound Village. While chatting he told me about the loads of ultrasound education material on their website which you can access for free. If you’re lucky you might be able to secure a spot at one of their courses which are only run a few times a year (there’s one coming up in November!) – no conflict to declare, I just hear it’s a great course.
One video caught my eye, and that was E-FAST lecture, or extended focused sonography in trauma scan presentation. This is an easy to follow video with lots of clips of normal and abnormal findings, and a good discussion of the benefits and limitations of doing bedside ultrasound in trauma patients. Whilst this is not a mind-bending debate on ultrasound and trauma, and it doesn’t have many hot tips for the ultrasound pros, it is great for those who are just beginning to do FAST scans, and is a good summary if you’re preparing a “discuss the use of ultrasound in trauma” answer for an SAQ (for the ACEM Fellowship candidates). So check it out here and let me know what you think.
You can also download a free “E-FAST Log Sheet” that you can complete and add to your patient’s notes. Or just carry it around as a pdf on your phone/iPad for review when doing scans at work.