Department of Emergency Medicine CPoCUS IP Core February 21 to 23 2024

Independent Practitioner (IP) 

CORE Certification Ultrasound 3-Day Course

(50 Scans & CPoCUS Exams)

February 21 to 23, 2024

Goals & Objectives

Firstly, the goals of the course are to provide participants with the opportunity to obtain AT LEAST 50 bedside ultrasound scans in the following areas:

• FAST (right upper quadrant, left upper quadrant, suprapubic views)
• AORTA
• PERICARDIUM (from subxiphoid approach)
• Core LUNG (pneumothorax, hemothorax/pleural effusion)
• 1st Trimester OBSTETRICS

Secondly, the national CPoCUS certification exams for IP-Core status will provide the participant with the recognition and understanding to be a leader in their own center and proctor scans for other learners.

The CPoCUS set of written, visual, and standardized proctored exams of a patient are all conducted one-on-one with an instructor.

This course ensures that one third of the required scans will have pathology with free fluid, AAAs, pericardial effusions, pleural effusions, and first trimester pregnancies on real patients as well as integrating clinical cases with ultrasound simulators.

Competency in these areas of point of care ultrasound has been recognized as being a valuable part of the clinical evaluation of various clinical presentations. The scans obtained during this course are recognized by the Canadian Point of Care Ultrasound Society (CPoCUS) (http://www.cpocus.ca).

CPoCUS will offer full (FAST/cardiac/aorta/1st trimester OB/core lung) or limited IP status depending on the participants’ request, their location of practice, and their provincial College policies.

This course is accredited by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Participants will be entitled to Section 3 credits.

Format

The course runs over 3 days, from 8am – 5pm, which includes a brief welcome and lecture on the first day, and a catered lunch on all 3 days.

This course is organized to maximize “hands on” time with patients, as ultrasound image generation and interpretation are the focus of the first 2-days of the 50 scans course. Two participants will be located in each room, along with a proctor, a model, and an ultrasound machine. Both participants are expected to scan the areas of interest in the time provided, before moving on to the next room to repeat the process.

The third day is the administration of the 3 sets of CPoCUS national exams (written/visual/practical) as well as any top-up scans required. The CPoCUS written exam is online thus, it is imperative that each participant must register for an active membership with CPoCUS ($25 for new members and $125 for membership renewal) on their own prior to the course. The DEM is not responsible for paying your organizational membership fees (ie. CAEP, ACEP, CPoCUS, etc). Without your membership registration with CPoCUS, you will not be able to access the written exam at our course. The link for registering for membership with CPoCUS is: https://cpocus.ca/become-a-member/

Once a participant has successfully passed our IP course, the results will be submitted to CPoCUS. Each participant will then receive a separate email from CPoCUS for issuance of the IP certificate.

Note:  As mentioned above in the course format, there is a separate membership registration from CPoCUS of $25 for new members or $125 for annual renewal. This is a FAST-paced course (no pun intended), and as such, we strive to stay on time. Please keep this in mind for start times, and when returning from the lunch break.

Cost

The cost for the 3-full day CPoCUS IP-Core course is $5000 per participant.

Pre-course preparation

As this course focuses ONLY on the “hands on” image acquisition and interpretation component for specific point of care ultrasound applications, it is expected that the participants will come to the 50 Scans IP course after completing a nationally recognized introductory ultrasound course with a basic understanding of ultrasound physics, knobology, image acquisition, and the exams in question (FAST, aorta, subxiphoid pericardial view, core lung, & 1st trimester OB). In addition to the theoretical content of the introductory course, the participants should also have a hands-on practice component of at least 5 proctored scans completed for the above 5 indications. This component is often integrated into a formal introductory course. The completion of an introductory course will ensure consolidation of the basic foundation and skills, prior to the rapid pace of this 3-day long course. A certificate of completion of an introductory course must be submitted for confirmation.

As part of your course registration for the IP CORE course, you will be provided with a complimentary iTunes card for the purchase of the iEDE Book – Point of Care Ultrasound for Emergency Physicians by Socransky & Wiss. Please read the pertinent textbook chapters for review as needed.

Some available pre-requisite introductory ultrasound course resources include but are not limited to those listed below. For a full listing of CPoCUS-approved courses, visit http://www.cpocus.ca

Live Courses (theoretical content & hands-on practice components)

1. Emergency Department Echo (EDE) course: http://www.edecourse.com
2. Emergency and Critical Care Ultrasound (ECCU) course: http://www.emergencyultrasound.org.uk/8.html
3. Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians Emergency Department Targeted Ultrasound (EDTU): http://caep.ca/cpdcme/roadshows-current-cme/edtu

Online courses (theoretical content only)

EDE-ONLINE didactic modules can be arranged through the U of M ultrasound course director in collaboration with Dr. Steve Socransky. The online course registration is $500 (plus tax) per participant. Through the ongoing collaboration with the ONLINE EDE course and the DEM, the “live hands-on practice scans” from this intro course will be incorporated into the 2-days of the 50 scans course as part of the pre-requisite.

Canadian Organizations

1. Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP): caep.ca
2. Canadian Point of Care Ultrasound Society (CPoCUS): cpocus.ca

Disclaimer

The course organizer and instructors will work diligently to ensure that all participants from the course feel proficient and competent in the Core applications to help them successfully complete their IP certification. However, the participants will also be held responsible to ensure that they are committed to learning and understanding the high standards for PoCUS. Thus, there is no guarantee that participants will get an “automatic pass” from sitting the CPoCUS exams once at the course. Although rare, but if a participant is severely struggling to pass their IP exams or unable to grasp the skill of PoCUS image generation despite extra supports from the course, the participant may have to sit another course to obtain their IP certification at their own cost.

Location

The IP-Core Certification Ultrasound Course is delivered at the University of Manitoba’s Clinical Learning and Simulation Facility, located in the basement of the Brodie Centre at 727 McDermot Avenue.

Cancellation Policy 

The course is very resource intensive, with much effort being provided by the Department of Emergency Medicine. There are a limited number of spots for each course, and it can be difficult to find participants to fill spots that open up due to cancellation. In light of this, cancellations greater than 8 weeks from the course date will receive a FULL refund, minus $200. administration fee.

Cancellations with 6-8 weeks of the course date will receive a 50% refund, and there are no refunds for cancellations less than 6 weeks from the course date. Participants who have registered may transfer their registration to another person, but this responsibility lies with the original participant. We will try to help find a replacement, but in the event, one cannot be found, participants WILL NOT receive a refund (if within 6 weeks of the course). Please contact Anthony Ochoa at 204-8811715 or anthony.ochoa@umanitoba.ca for any cancellation and transfer requests.

The DEM reserves the right to cancel a course due to low enrolment or other circumstances that would make the event non-viable. If the DEM cancels a course, registrants will be offered a full refund or transfer registration to an alternative course.

Continuing Medical Education Credits

 This activity is an Accredited Simulation Activity (Section 3) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of The Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada, and approved by the CPD Medicine Program, University of Manitoba. You may claim a maximum of 24 hours (credits are automatically calculated). Participants should only claim credit for the actual number of hours attended.

The University of Manitoba CPD Medicine Program is fully accredited by the Committee on Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education (CACME).

This program meets the accreditation criteria of the College of Family Physicians of Canada for Cert+ (60 credits), CPoCUS Core IP Certification, CERT+

Documentation

Scans are verified and signed off by IP Instructors during the course and the completed documentation stored with the DEM for auditing purposes. A signed certificate of completion for the CPoCUS IP- CORE Course will be provided to the participants after completion of the course and after a course evaluation has been completed