SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-"Whatsappening" in Pocus Education: Creating an Ultrasound Community for Learners

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The document describes a novel POCUS education strategy using WhatsApp to build an ultrasound learning community for residents and learners. The program was developed at the University of North Carolina to address a common barrier in POCUS training: too few POCUS-competent faculty to provide ongoing bedside supervision and feedback.<br /><br />In this longitudinal curriculum, internal medicine and medicine-pediatrics residents practice acquiring and interpreting ultrasound images, while faculty use a group-messaging app to provide real-time, HIPAA-compliant feedback on images and videos. The app is also used to present clinical cases that guide learners through ultrasound interpretation and reinforce key teaching points.<br /><br />From 2020 to 2022, participation grew substantially from 18 to 185 people across multiple departments, including internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine, anesthesiology, surgery, and family medicine. Participants shared 250 ultrasound images and 91 clinical scenarios. Cases covered abdominal, cardiac, lung, musculoskeletal, vascular, and renal/genitourinary findings.<br /><br />An example case highlights how the platform works: a child undergoing plasma exchange developed tachycardia, tachypnea, and hypotension. Learners reviewed lung and cardiac ultrasound images to identify pericardial effusion and early tamponade physiology, with faculty guiding them toward recognizing right atrial systolic collapse and explaining how reduced preload during plasma exchange can unmask tamponade.<br /><br />The authors conclude that WhatsApp-based POCUS education creates continuous, real-time support, promotes autonomy and collaboration, and may improve patient-centered care and resident learning. They plan to collect survey data to further evaluate its effectiveness and reproducibility.

Asset Subtitle

Erin M. Finn

Meta Tag

Author List Eric Sasine, Erin M. Finn, Katie L. Butler, Michael R. Contarino, Ria Dancel

Category Innovations

Concept POCUS Education

Concept Image Acquisition

Concept Image Interpretation

Concept Pericardial Effusion

Concept Cardiac Tamponade

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization University of North Carolina

Presenting Author Erin M. Finn

Track Education

Keywords

POCUS

ultrasound education

resident training

real-time feedback

HIPAA-compliant

clinical cases

point-of-care ultrasound

learning community

tamponade

POCUS Education

Image Acquisition

Image Interpretation

Pericardial Effusion

Cardiac Tamponade