POCUS Certificate of Completion

This program offers a comprehensive, hands-on experience to learn the fundamentals of point-of-care ultrasound. Take individual courses or earn the SHM-Chest Point-of-Care Ultrasound Certificate of Completion (COC).

All program requirements must be completed within 3 years of starting the program. The requirements are listed in the recommended order of completion. Portfolio images must be generated and collected personally after attending one of the live courses.

Please contact POCUS@hospitalmedicine.org if you have questions or concerns about completing the POCUS COC program within the 3 year timeframe due to the pandemic or other causes.

1. Complete Online Learning Modules

Supplement, strengthen and refine your ultrasound knowledge by completing SHM’s ten-part online educational series, “Principles of Point-of-Care Ultrasound.” Designed by frontline physician experts in ultrasonography, these interactive, multimedia e-learning tutorials review essential components of point-of-care ultrasound.

Click here to purchase and access the modules in the SHM Learning Portal. Members can purchase the series at a discounted rate.

Alternatively, learners may satisfy this requirement by completing the CAE Healthcare online series, “Bedside Ultrasound in Critical Care.” SHM members also receive special pricing on CAE Healthcare’s modules. Contact us for a unique discount code and click here to purchase.

2. Attend Ultrasonography: Essentials in Critical Care

During this course, you will review key elements of point-of-care ultrasound applications and practice image acquisition on human models under the guidance of expert faculty. The course provides an in-depth review of ultrasound images demonstrating normal and pathologic findings giving learners a unique and complete learning experience. This course is offered throughout the year at the CHEST Simulation center in Glenview, Illinois.

Please click on the links below for course registration and information.

*Member Benefit* SHM members receive special pricing on this course. Contact us for your unique discount code.

3. Attend an Approved Regional POCUS Course

Reinforce and refine your skills by attending one of these approved multi-day regional ultrasound courses:

1. New York Point-of-Care Ultrasound Course - held annually in New York. Next in-person course will be June 13-14, 2024. Click here to register. Please contact Erin Moran at EMoran3@northwell.edu with any questions about this course or to be added to the waitlist.
2. CHEST: Integration into Clinical Practice course – Chicago, IL (offered annually). Please contact CHEST for registration information.
3. Hospital Medicine Point-of-Care Ultrasonography – New York, NY (February & July – offered biannually). Click here to register for the July 29 - August 2, 2024 course.
4. 18th Point-of-Care Ultrasound Workshops – next course in January/February 2025. The UT Health San Antonio POCUS CME Workshops will include the Adult Basics course, as well as separate Faculty Development, Advanced Cardiac, and Pediatric Courses. Please contact krellenstein@uthscsa.edu for more details.
5. SHM Regional POCUS Course, Rocky Mountain Chapter – Denver, CO. Click here to register for the March 7-8, 2024 and May 2-3, 2024 courses.
6. SHM Minnesota Chapter Point-of-Care Ultrasound Course – Bloomington, MN. Click here to register for the October 12-13, 2024 course.
7. UCSF POCUS for the Hospitalist CME Course – Honolulu, HI. Click here to register for the June 17-18, 2024 course. Please contact Trevor.Jensen@ucsf.edu and Dawn.Bohlmann@ucsf.edu with any questions about the course.
8. UCSF POCUS for the Hospitalist CME Course – San Francisco, CA (November 2024). Please contact Trevor.Jensen@ucsf.edu and Dawn.Bohlmann@ucsf.edu for more details.

4. Complete Online Portfolio

After attending one of the live ultrasound courses, you are eligible to enroll in the ultrasound image portfolio. The online portfolio requires submission of ultrasound video clips for review by faculty. Access to the portfolio will only be granted after completing a live course.

A key element to training in point-of-care ultrasound is bedside scanning practice. To foster self-directed learning, you will be required to assemble a portfolio of specific images to be reviewed and approved by a SHM faculty member via the internet. Expect a productive educational experience that will foster ongoing scanning practice and yield high-quality image acquisition. You will need to have access to an ultrasound machine with image storage capability. Images should be recorded and exported directly from an ultrasound machine to the online portfolio.

The emphasis for portfolio development will be on image quality. While specific examples of disease are not required, with the exception of lung and pleural images, abnormal images are welcome. You may submit all normal images. If you will be teaching point-of-care ultrasound to other providers, this online image portfolio is a great way to kickstart developing your own teaching file of images. 

This activity has been approved for CME and MOC points.

Access the Online Portfolio 

5. Pass the Comprehensive Skills and Knowledge Assessments

Opportunities to complete the final assessments are offered at SHM Converge and approved POCUS courses listed on this page. Final assessments are also offered virtually if needed. CME credit is not offered for the final assessments.

All previous requirements (courses, online modules, and image portfolio) must be completed prior to taking the final assessments. For those who want to take the final skills assessment in-person at a regional, SHM, or CHEST course, confirmation has to be obtained from SHM and the course director. This ensures the coordination and logistics of your exam are finalized before the course begins. Please contact POCUS@hospitalmedicine.org as soon as you are eligible to schedule your final assessments. Please contact SHM at least 4 weeks before your preferred testing date to ensure your exam can be scheduled.

There is an Assessment fee to take the assessments. This fee allows for two attempts at the written knowledge assessment and one attempt at the hands-on skills assessment. If additional attempts are needed an additional fee of $300 will apply. Please contact POCUS@hospitalmedicine.org for more information.

Participants are required to complete all 5 components of the COC program within 3 years.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can achieve a Certificate of Completion?

The SHM-Chest Point-of-care Ultrasound Certificate of Completion program is designed for all healthcare providers interested in improving their bedside ultrasound skills. The program is geared primarily toward providers that care for acutely ill patients, including hospitalists, internal medicine or family medicine physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

For more information, contact SHM.

Can other courses count toward the Certificate of Completion?

If your goal is to obtain the SHM-CHEST Point-of-Care Ultrasound Certificate of Completion, then you should attend the courses listed above. These courses are taught by experienced SHM and Chest point-of-care ultrasound faculty and have undergone a detailed review of their curricular components, hands-on training experience, course evaluations, and faculty before inclusion in the COC program. Some learners may receive credit for courses previously attended (see “Is there an alternative pathway?” below), but we strongly discourage learners from actively registering for courses that are not listed above if their goal is to complete the COC.

Is there an alternative pathway?

Starting in January 2022, in lieu of Requirement 2 only, CME certificates from other live or virtual POCUS CME courses may be accepted if the CME course included:

1. Mentored hands-on scanning practice with live models with a 3:1 or 2:1 (learner:faculty) ratio
2. ≥24 hours AMA PRA category 1 CME credit
3. Teaching multi-system POCUS applications (heart, lungs, abdomen, vasculature)

Only credit from accredited CME courses will be accepted, and a copy of an official CME certificate must be provided to receive credit. We cannot accept letters or emails from course directors, invoices or registration receipts, copies of the agenda, etc..

To fulfill the live or virtual POCUS CME course requirement for the COC program, participants must attend different POCUS courses on different dates. The same POCUS course cannot be counted multiple times (or taken back-to-back) to fulfill the alternative or traditional pathway requirements. Similarly, for the alternative pathway, the same POCUS cannot be counted twice as the approved regional course (Requirement 3).

If you are an active POCUS user, have completed ≥24 hours of live POCUS CME, and would like to apply for the alternative pathway, please fill out this form. Please send inquiries to POCUS@hospitalmedicine.org 

What are the image portfolio requirements?

Cardiac Images (20 studies with the following views per study)

1. Parasternal long-axis view
2. Parasternal short-axis view at the mid-ventricle/papillary level
3. Apical four-chamber view
4. Subcostal 4-chamber view
5. Inferior vena cava longitudinal view

Lung & Pleural Images (5 studies with the following image views per study)

1. Normal sliding with A-lines
2. Consolidation (with high suspicion for pneumonia)
3. Pleural effusion
4. B-lines (minimum of 1 B-line)

Abdominal Images (5 studies with the following image views per study)

1. Right kidney longitudinal view with hepatorenal recess
2. Left kidney longitudinal view with splenorenal space
3. Abdominal aorta transverse view
4. Abdominal aorta longitudinal view
5. Bladder transverse view
6. Bladder longitudinal view
7. Ascites in right or left lower quadrant

Lower extremity DVT Images (5 studies with the following views per study)
All images should be acquired in a transverse orientation and demonstrate compression at each level.

1. Right common femoral vein
2. Right common femoral vein – Greater saphenous vein junction
3. Right femoral vein (superficial) – Deep femoral vein junction
4. Right mid-/distal femoral vein (superficial)
5. Right popliteal vein
6. Left common femoral vein
7. Left common femoral vein – Greater saphenous vein junction
8. Left femoral vein (superficial) – Deep femoral vein junction
9. Left mid-/distal femoral vein (superficial)
10. Left popliteal vein

Skin & Soft Tissue Images (3 studies with the following image views per study)

1. Normal skin and subcutaneous tissue (thigh or abdominal wall)
2. Subcutaneous edema ("cobblestoning")

POCUS Steering Committee

The SHM POCUS Steering Committee is responsible for developing and maintaining the standards for the Certificate of Completion.