Welcome to the Family and Community Medicine Faculty Ultrasound page. The purpose of this page is to provide a single source for ultrasound instruction and reference during your clinical teaching sessions with students and residents. Since 2014, ultrasound has been an integral part of the MCG curriculum. As our faculty, our goal is to provide you with ultrasound educational resources for continuing medical education and to provide you the tools to aid the students and residents in their ultrasound integration into their clinical practice.
What is my responsibility with this program?
This is primarily an independent-student task. They will need access to your patients and will obtain permission (verbal and written) to ultrasound image the patient. This document, RESPONSIBILITIES, is the faculty responsibilities of the USDA-sponsored grant that makes this program possible.
What is my liability?
The State of Georgia does not indemnify faculty or faculty practices. However, we ask the student to obtain verbal and written permission from the patient. The written consent provides liability protection for the faculty and practice. This is an educational project and patients are agreeing to let the students obtain ultrasound images as part of their education and that the faculty, practice, student and the university is not responsible for any missed pathology.
What are the ultrasound requirements for the students?
We have provided clerkship-long access to the ultrasound system for the student. Our goal is for them to utilize this system to explore various diseases while in your practice. Our specific goal is for them to appropriately screen patients for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Since this is a safe, non-invasive exam, we would hope that the students would ultrasound screen every patient they evaluate who meets screening criteria. Our minimum for the rotation is 5 screening exams. We focused on this specific pathology, AAA, as many people do not get this screening exam for a wide variety of reasons. We hope that by training medical students how to perform this screening exam and then giving them the opportunity to perform this exam during a clerkship, the rate of screening will increase.
How do we screen for AAA?
Screening for AAA involves using ultrasound to measure the aorta diameter. This is easily done at bedside using the portable ultrasound machine (Philips Lumify Ultrasound System) provided for your use during the clerkship. We incorporated this into the clerkship primarily so you can have hands on practice performing a non-invasive screening exam. Secondarily, our goals include increasing the number of Georgia citizens appropriately screened for AAA.
Abdominal Vasculature AnatomyAbdominal Aortic Aneurysm
Who do we screen?
It is important to perform the screening exam on those patients at risk for AAA. The USPSTF (USPSTF Aortic Aneurysm Screening Guidelines) recommends a 1-time screening for AAA in men aged 65-75 years who have ever smoked. A secondary recommendation is that men 65-75 years who have never smoked be selectively offered screening. This recommendation should be based on the individual using their medical and family history and other risk factors and personal values. It is unclear if women aged 65-75 years who have smoked should be screened for AAA, but during the clerkship these are appropriate patients to screen.
Do I need to ask the patient before I ultrasound them?
Yes. In fact, we ask that you explain the ultrasound procedure to the patient. The patient will not be charged for an ultrasound exam done by you, the student. However, they may have another ultrasound done for clinical reasons which they may receive a charge. So it is good to explain this to them. We also ask that you obtain written permission before you perform the ultrasound. On the Phillips Lumify Ultrasound system tablet, there is an electronic consent. If you cannot find this link, you can use the patient consent link below. If you access the link from your smart phone or tablet, the patient can use their finger to sign their name.
Why do the students also obtain video of the IVC?
The IVC is often confused with the aorta on ultrasound imaging. Our curricular goals includes identification of the aorta, measurement of the aorta, identification of the IVC, and using the IVC to evaluate a patient in shock (the RUSH EXAM – done during the Emergency Medicine Clerkship). Evaluation of the IVC is included in the Family Medicine Clerkship to help you understand the anatomical differences in the IVC and aorta and to assure you do not mistake the IVC for the aorta during your AAA screening exam. Evaluation of the IVC can be a very useful bedside assessment of the intravascular volume in an office setting. The IVC size is related to how well the patient is hydrated or if they have pathology which is blocking flow into (like a pericardial effusion or pulmonary embolus) into the heart or out of the heart (left ventricular systolic failure). A video on how to use the IVC in the assessment of ill patients is below.
How do students report their findings?
Please see the links below on how to operate and upload your images and report from the Philips Lumify Ultrasound System. This system is HIPPA compliant because it does not transmit any personal health information. As such, we would not be able to identify your patient. We would have to rely on you to know which patient had AAA screening.
Lumify Quick Start Guide Page 1 Page 2 Cleaning Instructions
FMPC 5000 Image Upload & Report Link
How to Load Clerkship Ultrasound Images & Report from the Lumify
What if I have trouble uploading the images?
Please contact the Center for Ultrasound Education at: mcguseducation@augusta.edu
What if the student finds something they think is pathology?
We ask the student to immediately notify their faculty if they find something they are concerned about. Most of the time, the faculty know their patient’s condition including prior advanced imaging studies and the students do not find unknown pathology. However, the Philips Ultrasound System has built in telemedicine capability called Reacts. If you need immediate assistance, you can use the Reacts Telemedicine Program to contact the Center for Ultrasound Education staff to interpret your images. You can also notify us of a concern and send us the images through the student link (above) or the faculty link below.
Video of REACTS
Faculty can participate in the clinical ultrasound educational program. We encourage you to image your patients using the equipment. We have provided our educational videos below and welcome you to submit images using the link below. We will record these for you and review your images, providing feedback. We can provide you with the guidelines for obtaining a letter for credentialing in your hospital.
