Our mission is to provide medical students with bedside ultrasound imaging skills at the point of care by integrating this training throughout their medical school experiences.
Ultrasound in medical education has the potential not only to enhance the learning experience for students, but also to improve the quality of patient care.
Butterfly Handheld Ultrasound
In 2019, Dr. Michael J. Stamos, Dean, School of Medicine, surprised the incoming Class of 2023 with the gift of a Butterfly handheld ultrasound device made possible through a generous donation by Greg and Sally Palmer. Since then, each subsequent class has received a Butterfly ultrasound device.
The use of the Butterfly has enabled learning opportunities for students beyond the ultrasound curriculum in the medical education program. These opportunities include:
- Research Projects
- Student teaching opportunities
- Service Trips
When students at the White Coat Ceremony received their ultrasound devices, they weren’t thrilled for themselves. They were thrilled because of what the machines can do for patients. It’s a wonderful thing.
~ Sally Palmer
In PACE [early clinical experience] this past year, two different patients came in with bumps on their skin that they were concerned about. I took a look at the bumps with the Butterfly, and in both cases my preceptor was able to use the imaging to confirm his suspicion that they were benign lipomas.
~ Sriram Rao, MS2
Having a butterfly has been a great opportunity both in the clinical setting and at home. On multiple occasions this year, I was able to use my butterfly in patient areas that do not typically have ultrasound available and felt confident in providing a clinical correlation to my scans. Being able to practice with it at home has drastically improved my comfort levels of using ultrasound in the hospital as well. It has also been a fun addition to family parties and for family and friends who are pregnant. My favorite story related to this is being able to provide my cousin with a 1-minute video of her fetus moving around and waving to their soon to be parents by using the record feature on the butterfly app. She had never seen a fetus in motion before, as she is typically just given the pictures of the ultrasound at the end of her OBGYN visits.
~ Haden Oliphant, MS4
Ultrafest
Under the direction of AIUM member J. Christian Fox, MD, the UCI School of Medicine hosts an annual free bedside ultrasound symposium for medical students throughout California at the medical school campus. The Ultrafest provides hands-on workshops in emergency medicine, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, anesthesia, cardiology, sports medicine, and more. The symposium provides an incredible opportunity for students to learn and improve bedside ultrasound skills in multiple fields.
Ultrafest 2021 at UCISOM simply does not happen without Butterfly. In the midst of the pandemic we coordinated a completely remote and interactive festival that incorporated live teaching and immediate feedback to teams from all over California. I was overwhelmed once we finished by how lucky I was to end up at UCI for my medical education, with access to so much quality instruction and tech resources to make our event possible.
Personally, Butterfly was a huge help to my family in the pandemic as well. My sister-in-law was pregnant for most of 2020, and my brother wasn’t able to safely go with her to any of their prenatal ultrasound appointments. Each time I saw them, my family and I would use my Butterfly to see my niece from the womb. Truly special memories for my family that I’ll take with me from some very uncertain times.
~ Brian Shughrou, MS4
For more information about UltraFest,
visit http://uciultrafest.com
or following them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/UltrafestUCI/