Development of a Point-of-Care Ultrasound Track for Internal Medicine Residents

Background: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) training has been increasing among internal medicine (IM) residency programs, but few programs can provide longitudinal training due to barriers such as lack of trained faculty. Aim: Describe the development of a longitudinal POCUS track for IM residents using local and external resources, including a national POCUS certificate program. Setting: University-based IM residency program affiliated with a public and veterans affairs hospital. Participants: Twelve IM residents from 2018 to 2021. Program Description: Residents complete a national POCUS certificate program by attending live courses and completing online modules, an image portfolio, and final knowledge/skills assessments. Locally, residents participate in 1-month procedure and diagnostic POCUS rotations and provide peer-to-peer POCUS teaching of residents and medical students. Program Evaluation: The POCUS track increased residents’ use and comfort with diagnostic and procedural applications. All residents rated being satisfied or very satisfied with the track and would recommend it to prospective applicants (100%). The most commonly reported barriers to utilizing POCUS per residents were time constraints (83%), lack of available ultrasound equipment (83%), and lack of trained faculty (58%). Discussion: IM residency programs with limited faculty expertise in POCUS can leverage external resources to provide longitudinal POCUS training to its residents.