Emergency Ultrasound Division
The Emergency Ultrasound Division at Community Medical Center is made up of ultrasound-fellowship trained Emergency Medicine physicians who are passionate about Emergency Ultrasound, education, and utilizing POCUS to provide exceptional patient care.
As a department we are intimately involved in residency education through dedicated scan shifts, weekly QA, monthly simulation labs, and department research projects. We also collaborate with the other ultrasound divisions within the system, specifically at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ and Newark Beth Israel in Newark, NJ. This collaboration allows us to be innovative with our curriculum, including a joint boot camp for incoming residents throughout the RWJBH system as well as an annual Ultrasound Competition at the RWJBH EHM Regional Conference in Atlantic City, NJ.
Our residents follow an innovative longitudinal curriculum for their emergency ultrasound education. Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) plays a vital role in our day to day practice by reducing the time to critical diagnoses, increasing patient satisfaction, and improving the quality and efficiency of the care we deliver. It is our hope that a longitudinal curriculum will allow residents to master POCUS earlier, incorporate it into their clinical practice sooner, aid residents in becoming educators, as well as prepare them to pursue more advanced applications during their training.
In 2023 we obtained 6 new state of the art ultrasound machines, 4 Mindray TE X Systems and 2 Mindray M9 Systems, including two endocavitary probes and two TEE probes. We also implemented a workflow solution with Butterfly Enterprise to ensure quality, aid in education and research projects, and maintain credentialing of our faculty.
As of July 2024, we will be offering a 1-year EUFAC accredited Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship with 2 fellows per year. Emergency Ultrasound Fellows will have the opportunity to work with residents, medical students, and participate in the monthly simulation lab to develop their teaching skills. The fellows will also have the opportunity to collaborate with the other ultrasound fellowships within the system for quality assurance, journal club, research projects, etc. The fellowship was designed to develop experts in Point of Care Ultrasound and provide a foundation to pursue academic and/or administrative goals.
We currently offer 2-week and 4-week Emergency Ultrasound electives for 4th year medical students. Interested students should apply through VSAS.
For more information or questions regarding our Ultrasound Division please contact Dr. Danielle Biggs at danielle.biggs@rwjbh.org