The Family Medicine Residency of Western Montana

Training in POCUS is critical for providers in rural and underserved settings; as the mission of the FMRWM is to train family physicians for rural and unserved locations it is essential that we incorporate POCUS training into our curriculum. 

Objectives of the curriculum:

1. To improve patient care at Partnership Health Center by providing Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) to enhance patient evaluation in clinic.
2. To provide training in POCUS at FMRWM as part of the resident continuity clinic experience at Partnership Health Center.
3. To provide FMRWM residents with the skills essential for practice in rural and underserved settings.

Resident training: This curriculum will be taught both in focused and longitudinal experiences throughout residency. 

1. Sessions during “Introduction to Family Medicine”- several sessions over the course of the month providing an introduction to POCUS to incoming interns.
2. Didactic education. Lectures and hands-on workshops will be incorporated into the didactics schedule; occurring at a minimum of quarterly. 
3. Opportunities for POCUS exposure on rotations: Emergency Medicine and Critical Care. On these rotations residents are able to perform bedside ultrasound under the supervision of a physician trained in POCUS. 

Opportunities at Partnership Health Center: Ultrasounds can be performed by a resident, under direct supervision by a preceptor who is POCUS credentialed within the core application, or with a confirmatory formal imaging study.  Residents will be eligible to use POCUS skills without supervision or confirmation within each of the first ten “Core Applications” after they have demonstrated 25 documented and verified exams.