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It’s a five-part online pathway to develop your competence in POCUS image acquisition and interpretation skills, skills that can facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of certain acute organ dysfunction. Developed exclusively for physician anesthesiologists by anesthesiologists with extensive POCUS expertise, this program complements provides access to all of the following:
*IMPORTANT: Prior to purchase, you will need to decide if you plan to use a Local Mentor or ASA Faculty to attest to your work in Part 4 of the program. See price points for each option and review the role/qualifications of the mentor.
This program is offered exclusively to physicians and designed specifically for physician anesthesiologists. It’s the only specialty-specific program of its kind.
Completion of the curriculum earns a Certificate that some hospital credentialing/privileging bodies could choose to use as evidence of proficiency in diagnostic POCUS.
This certificate does NOT automatically grant privileges at any hospital. Each hospital/institution must determine locally what credentials they will require to grant clinical privileges in diagnostic POCUS.
Purchase online at Shop ASA.
This activity awards a maximum of 45 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ and up to 10 points toward MOCA Part 4 requirements of the American Board of Anesthesiology. Completion of an action plan and outcomes report to obtain MOCA Part 4 points are optional activities. However, to receive 10 points toward MOCA Part 4 these activities MUST be completed, and your ABA ID number added for accurate reporting to the ABA.
This Certificate Program emphasizes focused diagnostic ultrasound evaluation of the heart, lungs, and abdomen (stomach, bladder, and FAST exam), which are the diagnostic POCUS organ systems identified by the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) as being of highest relevance to the field of anesthesiology.
The Diagnostic POCUS Certificate Program offers a certificate of completion that does not expire. It is not a certification that would award credentials upon completion and later require recertification.
Part 4 of this program requires a qualified mentor to review a subset of your portfolio of diagnostic POCUS studies and verify that the exams reviewed are of interpretable quality. Please note: the role of the mentor is merely to verify via a brief web-based form that the learner has demonstrated competence in image acquisition. The mentor is NOT required to comment at all on the learner’s image interpretation skills (these skills are refined in Part 3 and tested in Part 5 of the Certificate). However, each mentor is free to provide feedback on the learner’s image interpretation skills if the mentor so chooses.
This program offers two mentor options, at different price points:
Mentors must be attending physicians with demonstrated competence in POCUS or diagnostic ultrasound expert practicing in any specialty (e.g., cardiology, radiology, internal medicine, critical care, and/or emergency medicine).
Qualified mentors should meet the following requirements for each POCUS domain.
Lung (pleural/pulmonary) ultrasound Local Mentors must meet one of the qualifications below:
Gastric ultrasound Local Mentor must meet one of the qualifications below:
Focused Cardiac Ultrasound (FoCUS) Local Mentor must meet one of the qualifications below:
Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST) Exam Local Mentors must meet one of the qualifications below:
To earn a Diagnostic POCUS Certificate of Completion, you will need to complete all five parts of the program within two years from the date of enrollment.
Part 1: Quality Improvement (QI) Action Plan
Create an action plan for the improvement of your practice. Answer seven questions to help formulate your plan. After completing parts 2-4 of the program, complete a reflection and outcomes report to qualify for MOCA Part 4 points. Answer seven questions to report outcomes. This is an optional activity but required to claim up to 10 MOCA Part 4 QI points.
Part 2: Evidence of Diagnostic POCUS Training Obtained from CME/NBE/Residency/Fellowship
Submit a minimum of 12 CME credits or 12 hours of equivalent training obtained during residency/fellowship by selecting from a regularly updated and growing list of ASA-approved programs and uploading your certificates*. Access approved program list here.
Organizations interested in adding courses/workshops, please submit the Organization CME Course Form. The editorial board will review with notification of approval or
The training can come from any combination of the following: CME credits for approved courses; certain National Board of Echocardiography exams/certifications (CCEeXAM or ASCeXAM); and/or POCUS training obtained during residency/fellowship. Simply select what you have participated in and upload your relevant course completion document(s). For individuals who do not currently have access to POCUS, the ASA has partnered with a *third party to offer web-based POCUS training that fulfills this Part 2 requirement.
Forms may be submitted by learners, organizations, and residency/fellowship programs for activities that were completed within the 5 full calendar years preceding the year of enrollment, and up to 24 months after the program enrollment date. For example, if a learner enrolled in the POCUS Certificate Program on January 3, 2022, credits would be eligible if they were earned between January 1, 2017, and March 1, 2024.
*Exclusive offer to ASA Diagnostic POCUS Certificate Program participants courtesy of USabcd.org
USabcd.org is offering FREE access to their online POCUS training to the first 500 registered ASA Diagnostic POCUS Certificate participants. The use of a unique code will auto-enroll learners into ALL of the courses listed below. A score of 85% or higher on each post-test is required to claim credit towards Part 2 of the ASA's Certificate Program
Don’t see a relevant course on the approved list? As a learner, you may submit an activity for approval and inclusion in the program.
Faculty CME POCUS Training Form
Residency/Fellowship POCUS Training Form
*Audits will be conducted on a random basis to verify the legitimacy of certificates submitted toward minimum external training requirements.
Part 3: Image Interpretation Training: Online Case-Based Diagnostic POCUS Modules
Review 160 unique online cases—including 100 cardiac, 20 lung, 20 gastric, and 20 FAST exam cases—complete with image clips, questions for interpretation, and detailed explanations with references for further reading.
The cases are designed to train you to identify and interpret normal and abnormal pathology. The abnormal pathology includes the range of cases relevant to an anesthesiologist’s practice, including hypovolemia, cardiac dysfunction, pericardial and pleural effusions, pneumothorax, pulmonary edema, and empty vs. full stomach.
Part 4: Image Acquisition Training: Portfolio of Diagnostic POCUS Studies Performed
Demonstrate competence in image acquisition by submitting a diagnostic POCUS studies log that you performed, a subset of which needs to be reviewed by an approved Local Mentor or by ASA faculty.
Review image criteria here.
Please note: for this section of the Certificate (Part 4: Image Acquisition), there is no requirement that the exams contain pathology. The goal of Part 4 is merely to demonstrate the ability to obtain standardized, interpretable clips.
Part 5: Take the Final Exam
Complete a 115-question timed final exam. The final exam is made up of five topic-focused sections to demonstrate knowledge of POCUS fundamentals, as well as cardiac, gastric, lung, and FAST image interpretation. Each section is timed to allow approximately 80 seconds per item and graded independently with a minimum passing score of 70%. Take each exam section separately or at different times. However, each section must be completed in one sitting for progress to be saved.
You will earn a digital badge for each section passed and marked complete. Digital badges recognize and validate your qualifications in each content area and can be downloaded and shared on LinkedIn or other platforms.
You will achieve a Diagnostic POCUS Certificate of Completion when you pass all five sections of the final exam by scoring 70% or higher. If you score below 70% and do not pass a section, you will not be able to access that exam section for one month before being able to try again and retake it. A maximum of three attempts to pass is permitted for each section of the exam.
Following three unsuccessful attempts on any given section, you will need to repurchase the program, re-enroll, and successfully complete the program to obtain the Diagnostic POCUS Certificate of Completion. CME credit and MOCA Part 4 points may still be claimed.
IMPORTANT: Learners may choose to take each exam section separately or at different times. However, each section must be completed in one sitting.
Additionally, all learners who have completed parts 2-4 are eligible to obtain 45 CME credits. Completion of Part 1: Quality Improvement (QI) Action Plan and the Outcomes Report is required to claim 10 points of MOCA Part 4.
This self-paced program allows you to take the time needed and set your own schedule to complete the full program within a two-year period from the date of enrollment. On average, it takes between 4-12 months to complete. See below for approximate time ranges for completion of each part of the program:
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. Learners will reflect and report outcomes to earn MOCA Part 4 points after completing sections 2-4.
Part 2: Evidence of Diagnostic POCUS Training: CME/NBE/ACGME Certificates
Time to complete: 10-20 minutes.
Submit evidence of a minimum of 12 hours of prior POCUS training, which can come from any of the following: ASA-approved POCUS CME courses; certain National Board of Echocardiography exams/certifications (CCEeXAM or ASCeXAM); POCUS training obtained during residency/fellowship; and/or.POCUSa combination of all of the above. The prior trained must have occurred within the following timeframe: up to 5 full calendar years preceding the year of enrollment and up to 24 months after the program enrollment date. For example, if a learner enrolled in the POCUS Certificate Program on March 1, 2021, credits would be eligible if they were earned between January 1, 2017, and March 1, 2024. Simply select what you have participated in and upload your certificates. Access approved program list here.
For individuals who do not currently have access to POCUS training, the ASA has partnered with a third party to offer web-based POCUS training that fulfills this Part 2 requirement.
Part 3: Image Interpretation Training: Online Case-Based Diagnostic POCUS Modules
Time to complete: 15-35 hours.
Interpret 160* online interactive case studies of cardiac, lung, gastric, and FAST exams.
Part 4: Image Acquisition Training: Portfolio of Diagnostic POCUS Studies Performed
Step 1 - Submit a log of studies (30 lung, 30 gastric, 50 focused cardiac ultrasounds, and 30 FAST exams.
Time to complete: 1-3 hours if clips are available. If new clips need to be created (140 total), 1-3 months. Review image criteria here.
Step 2 - Have a subset (10% of studies (3 lung, 3 gastric, 5 cardiac, and 3 FAST exams) reviewed and approved by a mentor.
Time to complete: 1-3 hours for you and the Local Mentor
A subset of the exams must be reviewed by a mentor. The program offers two mentor selection options at different price points. The mentor’s role is to ensure the reviewed studies are of interpretable quality (i.e., mentor does NOT need to assess the learner’s image interpretation skills, only the learner’s image acquisition skills in this portion of the curriculum).
Part 5: Take the final exam and earn your certificate of completion!
Time to complete: 2 to 5 hours
The Exam is made up of five topic-focused sections (a total of 115 multiple-choice questions) to demonstrate your mastery of POCUS basics (physics and indications/contradications) and focused ultrasound of the heart, lungs, gastric antrum, and FAST. Each section is timed to allow approximately 80 seconds per item and graded independently with a minimum passing score of 70%. You can take each of the five sections of the Exam in a separate sitting. However, once a section is started, it must be completed in one sitting (i.e., the timer cannot be paused).
Yes, you will receive periodic email reminders and online announcements to ensure you proceed through the program and complete it in a timely manner. A progress bar is visible throughout the online course to help you track your status within each part of the program.
Learners will be required to repurchase and complete and retake all parts of the program, including passing all sections of the final exam to earn the Diagnostic POCUS Certificate of Completion.
This program was developed by the ASA Point-of-Care Ultrasound Editorial board. The 12-member board includes leading experts in ultrasonography and medical education at renowned U.S. and Canadian academic institutions.
Is there technical support?
Yes. Please email your questions or issues to educationcenter@asahq.org.
Yes, clinical support is available within parts 3 and 4 of the program. You can provide comments on a question-level basis for faculty review and feedback. For additional clinical conversation, consider posting a question or participating in the members-only online forum, ASA Community.
Until the summer of 2021, the ABA content outline listed only three diagnostic POCUS applications as core competencies for anesthesiologists: cardiac, lung, and gastric. Thus, the ASA chose these 3 applications as the core of the POCUS Certificate to align the Certificate with the ABA’s expectations for anesthesiologists.
However, in the summer of 2021, the ABA updated its content outline for the OSCE portion of the Applied Exam to include an additional organ system: focused assessment for free intraperitoneal fluid (in the trauma setting, typically called the FAST exam). To keep the ASA POCUS Certificate congruent with this change in the ABA content outline, a FAST exam module was added to the Certificate.
Date of last update: September 1, 2022
