Tag Archives: learning ultrasound skills

Look after your scanning arm

Ultrasound scanning is hard on your wrist, shoulder and elbow. Make good ergonomics a habit. Get the patient to shuffle over towards your side of the stretcher or bed. Adjust the machine console and screen height to eye level. Lower the bed if you can so that you are sitting or standing above your patient, working down and across rather than reaching up and over while you scan. To save you leaning and reaching over to your patients left side, get the patient to roll towards you partly onto their right side. Be kind to yourself.

Learning bedside ultrasound – Good learning resources

Start by finding a hands-on course or organize an elective or fellowship. No one learns to drive a car by reading a book, listening to didactic lectures or watching YouTube videos. Getting your hands on the probe early with a trainer next to you on a real human subject will orientate you to probe handling and hand-eye-screen coordination. This will give you a basic grounding.

Next find a good book or online resource with videos starting with the basics and building up. Aim to practice regularly what you are learning from reading and watching the videos on real subjects.