Colorado USIG hosts the State’s First Ultrafest Event
Ultrasound machines are changing the way doctors examine and diagnose their patients. To prepare for this, the University of California-Irvine hosts Ultrafest every year, a day-long event designed to provide hands-on experience with point-of-care ultrasound. Inspired by the event, Lane Thaut, OMS-IV, and Brian Russ, OMS-IV, collaborated with the faculty at University of Colorado School of Medicine, as well as the Colorado Ultrasound Interest Group (USIG), to host the state’s first Ultrafest.
Held on October 3rd, Ultrafest was attended by over 100 medical students and other health professionals. The event began with two keynote speakers: Creagh Boulger, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Ohio State University, and Nikita Joshi, MD, Clinical Instructor of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University. The speakers focused on the benefits of ultrasound, presenting real scenarios and sound advice on how and when to suggest ultrasounds to superiors. Following the keynotes, students visited different workshops, including cardiac, ocular, musculoskeletal, and pulmonary ultrasound.
Each workshop included a great student-to-doctor ratio (often 2:1). The presence of volunteers, mostly pre-med students, allowed attendees to scan instead of having to act as patients themselves, which greatly increased the hands-on learning. Corina Kee, OMS-II, said “They had small groups to teach, practice, and provide one-on-one time with all the students. I am much more comfortable using ultrasound now than I was previous to Ultrafest.” The event also included Echogames, an interactive game that uses an ultrasound to diagnose common ailments. Bobby Nieland, OMS-II, added, “Ultrafest was one of the most fun, interactive, and educational activities I’ve done in medical school to date.”
The Colorado USIG will continue to host ultrasound-related events for members throughout the year and is looking forward to hosting Ultrafest again next year.
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