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There has been a clear, growing trend of using musculoskeletal (MSK) ultrasound within the field of physiatry. MSK ultrasound is now an ACGME-required component for PM&R residency training programs. At Northwestern McGaw/Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, the MSK ultrasound resident curriculum has expanded and developed significantly over the past few years to provide a robust opportunity for our residents to have great exposure to this emerging technology. We wanted to share with you how our growth in this curriculum has been shaped over the last 10 years.
Our resident curriculum currently includes dedicated MSK ultrasound teaching and hands-on scanning time as part of the 12-month MSK Foundations lecture series (formerly known as Sports and Spine lectures). The weekly lecture series takes place on Thursday afternoons and is divided up by body region throughout the year. The MSK ultrasound sessions are incorporated into this curriculum along with the physical examination, anatomy, pathology, kinesiology and radiology lectures. Each ultrasound session is taught by our MSK Faculty members, starting with a 30-minute live ultrasound demonstration and followed by small group, hands-on scanning and practice time for the residents. Over the course of the last 10 years, the hospital has acquired 7 different ultrasound machines, which allows us to do the hand-on scanning in small groups for the residents.
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In the spring, the ultrasound curriculum culminates with the annual Scott Primack MSK Ultrasound Course, which has run for 10 years and counting. Dr. Primack, a distinguished alumni of our program, donated the very first ultrasound machine to the hospital for resident education. He also comes back nearly every year to help teach our course as well. Since 2014, we have received funding from the Northwestern Simulation Center to hold a 2-day MSK ultrasound course with fresh-frozen cadavers. The course includes structured stations where the residents learn and practice common MSK ultrasound-guided injections and procedures on the cadavers. Over the past few years, we have also incorporated stations for ultrasound-guided spasticity management injections, EMG landmark and nerve identification with ultrasound as well as a dry lab station for verification of physical examination accuracy using ultrasound. This past year we invited Dr. Katherine Alter from the NIH for our Prince Visiting Lectureship and she stayed to teach the hands-on portion of our course since she is a leading national experts in using ultrasound guidance for spasticity management procedures. This course is one of the highlights of the academic year, where residents, fellows and faculty members have dedicated time to learn, teach, practice and apply the principles of MSK ultrasound from the rest of the year. We have seen this program come full circle in that we have had graduates of our program who have gone through our MSK US curriculum come back to volunteer their help in serving as instructors to this course. We are fortunate to have received funding again for this year’s course in Spring 2019!
Other opportunities for MSK ultrasound education include a MSK ultrasound elective, which many of the 4th year residents choose to do prior to graduating. This involves a structured schedule of diagnostic ultrasound practice, ultrasound-guided injections in clinic as well as helping with the inpatient musculoskeletal consult service. This consult service, run by the MSK Faculty and Sports Medicine fellows, often involves diagnostic MSK ultrasound and/or ultrasound-guided injections for patients who are currently on the inpatient units.
We are excited about the current opportunities available to our residents and look forward to new developments and growth with MSK Ultrasound medical education in the future.
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