POCUS Teaching Beta

It is a structured point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) training programme run by University Hospitals of Leicester. It follows the standard FAMUS accreditation pathway and also supports FUSIC Heart. Teaching, supervisors, mentors and supervised scans are all part of the programme.

The programme is led by Dr Latif Rahman and Dr Salam Al-Alousi and started in 2021.

The programme runs for 11 months, from September to July. There are usually 1-3 teaching sessions a week, each lasting 1-2 hours. After that you have 6 months to complete your supervised scans.

The programme teaches the theory of ultrasound (the basics, normal and abnormal findings, and how to apply them to patient care) together with supervised hands-on scanning. See the Curriculum & Overview page for the full list of modules.

The programme is run by a team of consultants, supervisors and mentors, led by Dr Latif Rahman and Dr Salam Al-Alousi. The About page lists the team. You can contact them via NHS.net email (search them in the contacts)

Any East Midlands Acute Internal Medicine (AIM) trainee. Other UHL doctors who have attended or volunteered at the Leicester FAMUS Course can also access the programme to complete their accreditation. If you are unsure, please get in touch with the programme team.

To see the full functions of the website you have to join the programme and have authorisation by a Super Admin. Speak to us if you are interested in joining the programme.

Before the end of September you need to register with the accreditation body for your pathway (the FAMUS administrator for FAMUS, or the Intensive Care Society for FUSIC Heart), attend an approved practical course and complete the e-learning. Fees are payable to those organisations. The Curriculum & Overview page shows the steps.

The teaching programme itself does not charge a fee. The accreditation bodies (FAMUS and the Intensive Care Society) charge their own registration fees. Please check the current fees on their websites.

The programme guarantees you will achieve FAMUS accreditation by the end of the programme, as long as you keep up your attendance and put in the work needed to complete your logbook and assessments.

No. The programme provides FAMUS supervisors and FUSIC Heart mentors, and arranges supervised scanning sessions, so you do not need to organise this yourself.

FUSIC Heart is the Intensive Care Society's accreditation in point-of-care cardiac ultrasound. The programme provides your echo mentors. The pre-accreditation (triggered) assessment is completed separately with the FUSIC Supervisor, currently Dr James Offer at Glenfield Hospital. The ICS time limits are roughly 12 months to complete your logbook (first to last scan) and 24 months for all components.

Attendance is recorded and teachers can see how you are getting on. If you are falling behind, speak to a member of the programme team early so that a plan can be agreed. If you do not keep up attendance and scan numbers you may be removed from the programme.

You can see and book teaching sessions, record your scans in your logbook, track your progress towards accreditation and watch the educational resources. Step-by-step help for each part of the site is planned.

You can see your own records. Your supervisors, mentors and the programme leads can see them too so they can sign off your scans and support your training. See the Privacy notice for the full details.

No. Never enter patient names, NHS numbers, dates of birth or any other information that could identify a patient, in the logbook or anywhere else on the site. All your saved scans should also be fully anonymised.