Diagnostic POCUS Certificate Program

Diagnostic POCUS Certificate Program is organized by American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA).

End Date: 1/7/2027

Description:
Expand and validate your diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) expertise for hospital credentialing and privileging committees while receiving a standardized approach to diagnostic POCUS training.  

The only Diagnostic POCUS Certificate Program created by anesthesiologists for anesthesiologists has been enhanced for 2024. This five-part program is designed to help you develop and demonstrate mastery of  diagnostic ultrasound of the heart, lungs, and abdomen (stomach and peritoneal cavity), pelvis, and bladder.  – the POCUS organ systems identified by both the ABA and ACGME as core competencies for practicing anesthesiologists. However, image acquisition training (part 4) offers two purchase options.

Earn digital badges to recognize and validate your qualifications in each content area and share them on your LinkedIn or other platforms.

Part 1: Performance Improvement (PI) Action Plan (Optional)
Part 2: Evidence of Prior Diagnostic POCUS Training: CME/ACGME Certificates
Part 3: Image Interpretation Training: Online Case-Based Diagnostic POCUS Module
Part 4: Image Acquisition Training: Portfolio of Diagnostic POCUS Studies Performed

• Purchase option 1: Local Mentor: Use qualified physicians at your institution to review and attest to a subset of the studies in your Image Acquisition Log. Local mentors must be physicians with demonstrated competence in POCUS or diagnostic ultrasound practicing in any specialty (e.g., cardiology, radiology, internal medicine, critical care, and/or emergency medicine). Find a local mentor.
• Purchase option 2: ASA Faculty: If you do not have a local mentor to fill this need, ASA faculty is available. Learners will need to submit de-identified ultrasound images from five focused cardiac studies, three lung studies, three gastric studies, and three FAST exams from their Image Acquisition Log. This is a premium option with an added cost. 

Part 5: Take the final exam and earn your certificate of completion
Claim credits incrementally after Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 of the course and culminate in a certificate of completion to help you demonstrate competence in diagnostic POCUS to hospital credentialing and privileging committees.

Learning Objectives
After successfully completing this activity, the learner will be able to:

• Prepare and implement a practice performance plan involving the use of diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound to facilitate patient care.
• Record participation and successful completion of diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound coursework in basics of ultrasound, cardiac ultrasound, lung ultrasound, and abdominal (gastric and AFFBU exam).
• Analyze relevant guideline papers about ultrasound basics, including the recognition of common artifacts and suboptimal images.
• Acquire focused ultrasound images of the heart, lung, and abdominal (gastric and AFFBU exam).
• Identify and interpret focused ultrasound images (cardiac, lung, and abdominal (gastric and AFFBU exam) containing normal anatomy and abnormal pathology relevant to the practice of a physician anesthesiologist.
• Recognize the indications, contraindications, and scope of practice of point-of-care ultrasound of the heart, lung, and abdominal (gastric and AFFBU exam).