Our PoCUS Courses

Point-of-Care Ultrasound (PoCUS) is transforming clinical practice by enabling immediate, decision-focused imaging directly where patient care is delivered. Unlike traditional ultrasound performed in a radiology department, PoCUS allows clinicians to make rapid assessments and informed decisions without delays, streamlining patient care.

Our PoCUS courses are designed to provide healthcare professionals with the knowledge and hands-on skills needed to effectively use ultrasound in emergency and acute settings. Whether you’re new to ultrasound or looking to advance your expertise, our courses cater to various specialties and levels. Discover how PoCUS can enhance your practice and improve patient outcomes.

What is PoCUS (Point-Of-Care Ultrasound)?

Point-of-care is a phrase that is often used for equipment which has been positioned near the patient rather than in a separate part of the hospital. For example, we have point-of-care blood test devices which can save time in getting urgent blood tests results. So, Point-Of-Care Ultrasound means that the ultrasound is available where patients are assessed by clinicians so that quick decisions can be made without needing to send the patient to a separate part of the hospital, such as the Radiology Department.

Our Point-of-Care Ultrasound Courses

Our PoCUS courses cover the Introductory and Intermediate Ultrasound curriculum of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, as well as other PoCUS applications in emergency and acute settings, including FAMUS and FUSIC Heart & Lung. We also offer PoCUS courses tailored to other specialties, such as Primary Care, Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Surgery, and more.

All our ultrasound courses are delivered by a large faculty of practising ultrasound clinicians and are heavily focused on hands-on scanning practice. Participants have access to healthy volunteers for normal scanning and advanced simulators for pathology.

Why is PoCUS Beneficial for Doctors?

There are many situations where ultrasound can enable an important clinical decision to be made immediately. Examples include measuring the size of the abdominal aorta, looking for free fluid in the abdomen, choosing a site to calculate a vein or to drain a pleural effusion. The list of decisions where point-of-care ultrasound can help is growing all the time, with important recent applications being the lungs, heart, joints, eyes, tendons and more.

What is the difference between traditional ultrasound and PoCUS?

PoCUS specifically refers to decision-focused ultrasound. In other words, using ultrasound to make a specific decision rather than in a descriptive way. The skills needed for PoCUS are easier to learn than the more extensive skills of diagnostic ultrasound. PoCUS skills can be learnt, and applied, one skill at a time. For example, many clinicians use point-of-care ultrasound just for vascular access. However, there are so many other valuable ways of using PoCUS that most expert bodies are expanding their lists of recommended skills.

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Who are PoCUS courses suitable for?

Specialties in which the use of PoCUS is most established include Emergency Medicine, Intensive Care, Chest Medicine, Acute Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Anaesthetics and some surgical specialties, however there is interest in point-of-care ultrasound in many other specialties including Paediatrics, General Practice and a wider range of surgical specialties.

In addition, many clinicians other than doctors are now using PoCUS. This includes Paramedics, ACPs, ENPs, Physiotherapists, and many others. As many of these clinicians will continue in the same area of work for some years, these clinicians can be a valuable source of PoCUS skills within clinical settings.

What PoCUS certifications are there?

The PoCUS skills required by clinicians in different specialties and areas often overlap. For example, vascular access skills are valuable for most PoCUS users. However, some PoCUS skills are more critical for specific specialties—for instance, intensivists benefit greatly from haemodynamic assessments compared to most other clinicians.

As a result, there are a variety of certification processes tailored to different specialties, as well as more general training and certifications. Well-known certification processes include FUSIC (Focused Ultrasound in Intensive Care), FAMUS (Focused Acute Medicine Ultrasound), and the certifications required by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine for Emergency Medicine trainees.

For cardiac ultrasound, the leading accreditation programmes are those offered by the British Society of Echocardiography.

In addition, there are university-based certifications such as PGCerts, PG Diplomas, and MSc programmes. We offer a PGCert and micro-credentials in point-of-care ultrasound in partnership with Canterbury Christ Church University.