SonoSocial: Social Media in EM Ultrasound Education – check out what’s out there!

Happy Monday everyone! Im sure you love mondays as much as we do, so i thought I would post something that would be a bit of positivity and highlight a group that I believe in: ACEP Ultrasound Section. 2013 is the YEAR OF ULTRASOUND – and for good reason – there are only a few tools that give us such immediate information that can save a life. The ACEP US Section is the go-to site for everything you want to know about starting an US program, credentialing in ultrasound, the policies and politics, and is the home of SonoGuide – an amazing educational resource for bedside ultrasound, and the EMSONO: Ultrasound Test. It is also where we add our entries for their newsletter that goes over tips and tricks, cases, and all things ultrasound in the news. We recently wrote an article for the ACEP Ultrasound Section Newsletter – which is available for all members of the ACEP US Section – and I highly recommend becoming a member – it’s totally worth it. It is my go-to guide for all things bedside ultrasound. I thought to entice you, i would include our latest entry below – with a few additions in the end as it was written a few months ago and there have been more educators/bloggers since it’s publication: For a set of links to online education in bedside ultrasound, go here.

Social Media in EM Ultrasound Education by Drs. Viveta Lobo, Laleh Gharahbaghian

Stanford University Medical Center

In a realm where the access to free education, is becoming the mantra and expectation across learners, the emergence of social media is fast gaining popularity. A quick Google search, defines social media as, “a media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.” As a physician, educator, and learner in an academic institution, this modality of education promises to bestow unending means. Being able to have a presence 24/7 and allow access to learning at the convenience of learners is almost too good to be true. It is no wonder why higher education across the globe, and now even primary education has adopted social media as the forefront modality to reach and connect with learners.

The medical field is no exception. As we begin to recruit the most “tech savvy” group of students in our medical schools and residencies, the expectation to continue learning “on the cloud” is ongoing. Tweeting anatomy pearls, sharing Dropboxfiles on physiology notes, and joining Google hangouts for journal clubs – is quickly becoming the theme for most educational sites. And why shouldn’t it be? Being able to remotely participate in learning and connect with peers anywhere in the world, from your home, office, or emergency department, can only lead to extraordinary things.

Emergency medicine has rightly developed a reputation for being progressive and innovative. Emergency ultrasound lends itself to be the perfect subset to thrive with social media, and it has taken off! Being able to upload ultrasound clips online and teach anatomy, highlight pathology, and reward “great saves” for not just your own institution, but the entire ultrasound community goes way beyond the classroom. Websites, Blogs, Podcasts, Facebook group pages – whatever your fancy, its there – and it’s free. Our goal, has always been to try, learn, fail, succeed – but at the end, share. There is no better way to share than by using social media. Being able to connect all across the globe with other EM US enthusiasts, interact and discuss various topics and strategies has only helped us all do better, within our sub specialty and beyond. So don’t be skeptical, and give it a try! We’ve listed some of our favorite FREE picks, in no particular order, to help you get started…. There are plenty more out there….Until next time – see you on the cloud!

Websites for Online Education/Didactics in Bedside Ultrasound:

Sonoguide: Ultrasound Guide for Emergency Physicians – offers a description of each bedside US application, ultrasound images and videos – all to train and review US utility for aiding diagnosis, management and treatment by Dr, Beatrice Hoffman

SonoWorld – a comprehensive site that includes hundreds of lectures, cases, videos, and articles that includes basic bedside ultrasound applications, but goes beyond that to satisfy the needs of all US enthusiasts.

Emergency Ultrasonography – a comprehensive website geared to emergency physicians that contains many lectures, cases, and educational content that can be used by residencies for the didactic portion of ultrasound education by Dr, Geoff Hayden.

SAEM Ultrasound Narrated Lectures – just as it states, a library of lectures on bedside ultrasound with a link to a free pdf of ultrasound guides on that same site.

Sinai EM Ultrasound – a complete site of free online lectures, cases, research articles, and news on bedside ultrasound topics by Dr. Bret Nelson.

Society of US in Medical Education – learning modules and curriculum databases with a long lecture list on all basic bedside ultrasound topics that allows the learner to control the pace of the lecture.

Vanderbilt’s EM Ultrasound – a collection of brief lectures on each bedside ultrasound topic in a well-organized way with quizzes that can be taken to test your knowledge by Dr. Jim Fiechtl

ICU Sonography lectures for Echo/IVC and more by: Beth Israel, Stanford, and Yale

Online Textbooks on Bedside Ultrasound:

European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (EFSUMB)– a free and comprehensive European full textbook found online for free on each ultrasound application

Partners In Health Textbook for Ultrasound in Resource Limited Areas – by Drs. Sachita Shah, Dan Price, Gene Bukhman, Sachin Shah, Emily Wroe

iBook for the iPAD – a new textbook brought from the Ultrasound Podcast guys and written by many US educators sure to bring a new concept to the world of online education – The iBook and all it’s glory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB7_omzi8Cc

Podcasts on Bedside Ultrasound:

Ultrasound Podcast – one of the best, and funniest ways of teaching ultrasound to all learners. This podcast discusses all ultrasound applications, keeps it easy, and makes it engaging by Drs. Mike Mallin and Matt Dawson, with Stone’s side excerpts from Dr. Mike Stone.

UC Irvine’s iTunes lecture series – an excellent and comprehensive lecture podcast library of all bedside ultrasound applications by Dr. Chris Fox.

Soundbytes – a collection of free lectures for all bedside ultrasound applications in a concise and free format by Dr. Phil Perera.

Blogs on Bedside Ultrasound:

SonoSpot: Topics in Bedside Ultrasound – a blog that discusses tutorials, cases, tips/tricks, research, links/sites, and people in the ultrasound community by Dr. Laleh Gharahbaghian (yes, shameless plug here).

Bedside Ultrasound – Ultrasound teaching updates with tips/tricks and brief video lectures of the hot topics in bedside ultrasound and interviews with US enthusiasts by Dr. Mike Stone.

Highland Hospital ED Ultrasound – a collection of blog posts that focus on procedural US guided applications in addition to the basic US application by Dr. Arun Nagdev and Andrew Herring

Ultrasound videos & clips:

Sonocloud – the ultimate library of ultrasound clips – an amazing free image upload and download site where you can find any ultrasound clip you need to review, place in your lecture, or use to learn and teach others by Drs Mike Mallin, Matt Dawson, and Mike Stone.

Vimeo: US in Emergency Medicine and Critical Care group – a large collection of ultrasound clips for your viewing pleasure of pathologies, normal anatomy, and more by the HQMedEd (high quality medical education) team at Hennepin County Medical Center

There’s an App for That! – free Smartphone apps for bedside ultrasound

1-Minute Ultrasound – by the Ultrasound Podcast guys for your iPhone, with 1 minute reviews of all applications in an easy to learn way.

SonoAccess – a list of lectures and images in a smartphone app by SonoSite

Twitter accounts to follow for bedside ultrasound teaching topics: 123Sonography, AIUM_Ultrasound, AllUltrasound, Bedsidesono, BMUS_Ultrasound, ECCUltrasound, EchoCardiac, EDUltrasound, EDultrasoundQA, EM Res, GeriaSonoMD, SAEMAEUS, Sinai EM Ultrasound, SonoSpot, SUSME, UltrasoundFirst, UltrasoundMeme, UltrasoundPod, Ultrasound Training, Ultrasound Quarterly, USEDCDN

Other SonoBelievers who contribute to ultrasound education through their blogs/tweets:

Academic Life in EM, Life in the Fast Lane, EMCRIT, CriticalCareNow, HQMedEd, SonoCave, SonoIntensivist, WesternSono, TeresaWuMD, ChrisPartyka, AriKestler, CurroMiralles, Radiopaedia, EMCurrents, Jason T Nomura, Squartadoc, AndyNeill, EMManchester, EMBasic, AllUltrasound, BroomeDocs, M-Lin, EMEducation, EMChatter, Precordialthump, I_C_N, MDAware, EMIMDoc, jvrbntz, SandnSurf, IMEducator, keeweedoc, LWestafer, ERCast, DocWagz

A new, up and coming site for free, fun-incentivized global medical education through cases, questions, images (including ultrasound): Global Medical Education Project

I know…. a big family!… and I guarantee you Im missing a few, but there will be even more in 2013: The Year of Ultrasound.