Summary
This case study investigates the prevalence of critical care ultrasonography training in fellowship programs and identifies potential barriers to establishing ultrasound training programs. A survey was conducted among pulmonary/critical care and critical care medicine program directors in the United States.
The results revealed that ultrasonography training was offered in areas such as vascular access (98%), lung and pleural (74%), cardiac (55%), vascular diagnostic (33%), and abdominal (37%). The majority of respondents recognized the usefulness of ultrasound training (92%) and expressed interest in training their fellows (80%).
However, barriers included a lack of faculty trained in ultrasound (41%), fellow turnover (84%), and the perception that cardiac echocardiography training required a long time (48%). The study suggests that while training in vascular access is widespread, other aspects of ultrasound training face challenges in fellowship programs.
