Point-of-care Ultrasound (PoCUS) is already a must in emergency medicine and getting more and more popular in other medical domains, including primary care.

This ultrasound course is tailored to the most typical needs of GPs. However, other clinicians involved in primary care who are interested in ultrasound, including physiotherapists, paramedics and nurses, will find it useful.

You can apply for 6 CPD points for this course.

Next Dates: tbc

Fee: £370 inc. VAT

Venue: Terracotta Court (ground floor), 167 Tower Bridge Road, London, SE1 3LN

About our Ultrasound for Primary Care Course

Why do GPs need an ultrasound course?

Just imagine if you could check a lump, on the spot, to see if it is a cyst or a mass, aspirate fluid accurately under guidance, identify a knee effusion, assess suspicious feeling abdominal structures, look for kidney stones and associated obstruction, gall stones, DVTs, pleural effusions and much more. You won’t need to wait for an ultrasound appointment at the hospital. This will enable you to make more accurate decisions about referral and management.

Ultrasound machines are becoming more portable and cheaper. You can even attach a hand-held ultrasound device to a mobile phone or tablet. With one of the latest hand-held devices, which fits easily in a drawer, you can have an ultrasound machine for a little over £2000.

But you still need the knowledge and skills to be able to obtain appropriate images and interpret them correctly. Our course is designed to help GPs and other primary care clinicians learn the necessary theoretical basics and master practical ultrasound skills.

What does the US for Primary Care course cover?

The course programme is designed around the situations that GPs have to deal with, along with the basic skills in using an ultrasound machine. It is designed for beginners and those in the early stages of using ultrasound.

• Ultrasound physics and knobology (how to operate ultrasound machines)
• Abdominal ultrasound (aorta, liver, gall bladder and ascites scanning)
• Basic gynaecological ultrasound examination
• Lung ultrasound for pleural effusion/consolidation
• Basic MSK Ultrasound (shoulder, ankle, knee pathologies, ultrasound-guided joint injections and aspirations)
• Recognising cysts, tumours, and other point-of-care ‘lumps and bumps’
• DVT (how to use venous ultrasound to diagnose deep vein thrombosis)

How is the course taught?

After you sign up for the course you will be given access to online videos covering some of the core theoretical knowledge required. This will help to save your time for actual scanning on the course day.

On the course, you will go through short lectures and presentations covering applications of PoCUS in Primary care, which will alternate with focused practical scanning sessions.

You will scan on healthy volunteers and state-of-the-art-simulators able to demonstrate various abdominal, renal, pleural, cardiac, and musculoskeletal pathologies. We have a range of modern ultrasound machines to work on, including the latest hand-held devices, phantoms, real-life and VR simulators.

The course is led by ultrasound practitioners with extensive experience in General Practice.

What Doctors Are Saying About Our Ultrasound for Primary Care Course