Bronze level

RVUCOM team places third in ultrasound competition

Three osteopathic medical students went up against teams from 11 other medical schools to demonstrate their ultrasound skills.

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When Brian Russ, DO, wanted to learn more about ultrasound technology, he founded the Ultrasound Student Interest Group at the Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine (RVUCOM) in Parker, Colorado. In March, three students from the RVUCOM group tested their skills and came in third place during an inaugural ultrasound competition in New York.

During the SonoSlam, 17 medical student teams from 12 medical schools competed in three different rounds designed to test their ultrasound knowledge and performance chops. RVUCOM was the only osteopathic medical school in the competition, which was sponsored by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.

The first round of the competition focused on basic physics, anatomy and scanning techniques. Following a head-to-head competition testing simulated procedural skills, the top two teams from the second round advanced to the final round where they demonstrated pathology recognition and competed in a “scan off.”

Although the RVUCOM team didn’t advance past the first round, they did compete in a redemption round and automatically received third place in the competition by scanning the most items within the allotted time.

“Being able to perform point-of-care ultrasonography is an invaluable tool for physicians across numerous specialties. It can expedite emergent and non-emergent diagnoses, including abdominal aortic aneurysms and gallbladder disease,” Dr. Russ says. “In addition, providers can use ultrasound to guide a variety of procedures—ultimately making them safer and more effective for the patient.”

Russ was joined at the competition by his wife, Abigail Russ, DO, and Lane Thaut, DO, who were all fourth-year students and members of RVUCOM’s ultrasound group at the time of competition.

3 comments

  1. M. S. K. DO

    Dr. B. Russ, can you set up a program or a learning module on the RVU Osteopathic School of Medicine webpage or some other webpage for those of us interested in learning ultrasound?

    Good Work!

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