The healthcare industry is always evolving. New machines and tools are being created and best practices continue to be altered.
Missouri State’s School of Anesthesia is hoping to stay ahead of the curve on these changes within healthcare by providing students with the best educational resources.
This year, the anesthesia department offered its first ever Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) workshop to the students in the program.
“The use of ultrasounds is being incorporated into our practice now,” said James Keaton, CRNA, clinical assistant professor. “We thought it would be a good idea to offer our students the opportunity to get some experience using them.”
The importance of POCUS
Being able to effectively monitor patients is one of the most important jobs of a Nurse Anesthesiologist.
It is important for students to get as much practice in POCUS as possible because everyone’s anatomy is slightly different. Experience will enhance students’ knowledge immensely.
“By using ultrasounds, we are able to quickly and effectively assess a patient’s condition,” Keaton said. “We can look at someone’s heart and airways to assess how their body is functioning and alter the anesthetic accordingly.”
Because of its usefulness, POCUS will now be included on the certification exam.
“The national accrediting body recently announced that students will be required to learn and understand the use of POCUS in our field, so it’s important for us to start that training for our students now,” Keaton said.
Outstanding first workshop
Seventy-six students in the anesthesia program were able to go through the POCUS training during the workshop.
Twenty-four students from departments around the college volunteered their time to get ultrasounds taken of them.
“The cooperation between departments around the college was amazing. It gives students a better idea of what we do and the program we offer,” Keaton said.
The workshop was held in the nursing simulation lab in O’Reilly Health Sciences Hall, one of the amazing facilities on the MSU campus.
This educational opportunity would not have been possible without the generosity of several companies who lent their machines to the program for the weekend.
Those companies include:
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- Butterfly iQ.
- GE.
- Phillips/Braun.
- Sonosite/Fujifilm.
Geren’s new responsibilities include radiology and laboratory on the clinical side of things. He works mostly with support staff, which gives him a glimpse at the way other departments operate.