Focused Ultrasound Education (FUSED) Program
The Focused Ultrasound Education (FUSED) Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is committed to incorporating bedside ultrasound in the neonatal and pediatric clinical care setting. Often children present with symptoms that are difficult to diagnose from physical exam or laboratory tests alone. Ultrasound is a tool that allows clinicians to “look into” a patient in real-time to help make a diagnosis and initiate timely, life-sustaining treatment.
About Our Focused Ultrasound Education (FUSED) Program
Since 2012, CHOP has been a leader in multidisciplinary pediatric bedside ultrasound education. The FUSED Program was developed through intensive collaboration between leaders in imaging-based specialties (cardiology and radiology) and acute care disciplines (emergency medicine, anesthesiology, critical care, neonatology) to bring this advanced technology to the point-of-care management of sick children.
Today, bedside ultrasound is a fundamental element of care in our hospital. Our pediatric acute care providers now use point-of-care ultrasound (often referred to as “POCUS”) to augment clinical assessment and guide procedural performance to improve patient safety and outcomes.
Our Bedside Ultrasound Education Efforts
The FUSED Program believes portable ultrasound is a vital clinical tool for all pediatric acute care providers. Within CHOP, medical students, general pediatric residents, fellow trainees and faculty are trained through the FUSED Program’s division-specific advanced curriculum which includes virtual reality trainers and 3-D printed models to augment their ultrasound skill set.
We also educate pediatric specialists outside our institution in the use of ultrasound. CHOP has led the effort to train physicians by hosting biannual immersive two-day ultrasound courses, the largest courses for pediatric providers known throughout the world, as well as delivering local courses to academic pediatric institutions across the country. Further, CHOP-based courses have been delivered internationally in Taiwan, Switzerland and, starting in 2020, China.
Our Point-of-Care Ultrasound Research
We are committed to systematic implementation of bedside ultrasound across the pediatric and neonatal clinical care environment with robust assessment for clinical practice change and outcome improvement. Our research team has published numerous studies on the impact of ultrasound education and its translation to clinical care. The FUSED team can provide shared educational curriculum, credentialing documentation and quality assurance processes for implementation within acute care divisions outside of CHOP, with the goal of developing robust, multicenter bedside ultrasound educational and clinical databases. Such data will allow us to ensure the translation of education to clinical excellence as well as truly quantify the impact of bedside ultrasound in the care of our sickest children.
CHOP Bedside Ultrasound Course Mailing List
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Contact Us
If you have any questions about our FUSED Program, feel free to contact us anytime.