Diagnostic POCUS Certificate Program

Expand and define your diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound skills and validate your expertise for hospital credentialing and privileging committees with this self-paced program. This five-part program enables you to achieve a Certificate of Completion by demonstrating mastery of heart, lung, and gastric diagnostic POCUS skills. Plus, earn CME and ABA MOCA 2.0^® Part 4 credit.

"Over the past two decades, diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has emerged as a useful bedside tool in perioperative care.  However, many practicing anesthesiologists are reluctant to practice this skill set because of a lack of standardized training and/or due to push-back from hospital privileging committees.  We hope that this Certificate Program will help anesthesiologists surmount these two obstacles."

Yuriy S. Bronshteyn, MD, FASE
Chair, ASA POCUS Editorial Board
Meet the Faculty and Contributors

What You Can Expect

Part 1: Quality Improvement (QI) Action Plan
Time to complete: 30-60 minutes

Articulate and structure your goals and make a game plan to achieve them. Then, after completion of Parts 1-4 of the Certificate Program, reflect and report outcomes to earn ABA MOCA 2.0^® Part 4 points.

Part 2: Evidence of Diagnostic POCUS Training: CME/NBE/Residency/Fellowship POCUS Training Documentation
Time to complete: 10-20 minutes

Submit a minimum of 10 CME credits or 10 hours of equivalent training obtained during your residency/fellowship by selecting from a regularly updated and growing list of ASA-approved programs and uploading your certificates*. Access approved program list here.

Part 3: Image Interpretation Training: Online Case-Based Diagnostic POCUS Modules
Time to complete: 15-35 hours

Interpret 140 interactive cases (100 cardiac, 20 lung, and 20 gastric) covering a wide-spectrum of clinically-relevant findings. 

Part 4: Image Acquisition Training: Portfolio of Diagnostic POCUS Studies Performed

Step 1: Submit a log of diagnostic POCUS studies.
Time to complete: If clips are available: 1-3 hours. If new clips need to be created: 1-3 months.

Step 2: Have your log reviewed and approved by a mentor.
Time to complete: 20 minutes for you and the local mentor

• Local mentor: Use a local mentor to review a subset (at least 5 cardiac, 3 lung, and 3 gastric) of your POCUS studies to verify that they are of interpretable quality. You can have one mentor for all three areas, or a different mentor for each area. They should meet one of the following criteria:
  •  A national certificate in relevant POCUS organ system(s) cardiac, lung, gastric ultrasound
  • Served as a faculty at a POCUS CME course
  • Personally performed and interpreted a specific minimum number of POCUS exams in the relevant organ system (150 cardiac, 50 lung, 50 gastric)
  • Director of POCUS in your department/division/practice area
• ASA faculty: if you do not have a local mentor to fill this need, ASA faculty are available. This is a premium option with an added cost.

Part 5: Take the final exam and earn your certificate of completion!
Time to complete: 2 hours

The exam is made up of four topic-focused sections to demonstrate your mastery of POCUS fundamentals, as well as cardiac, gastric, and lung specifics.

View frequently asked questions.

Pricing

Questions about the program?

Review the FAQs page or contact educationcenter@asahq.org for more information.

Resources to learn more about the Diagnostic POCUS Certificate Program