Point of Care Ultrasound (PoCUS) - Ultrasound Guided Regional Anaesthesia (USGRA) (blended)

A bespoke ultrasound blended learning course designed to upskill anaesthetists and emergency physicians to deliver high quality regional anaesthesia.

This course has been developed to address an unmet need for in USGRA teaching and training and takes advantage of:

• high-fidelity ultrasound simulation facilities at NHS Wales’s National Imaging Academy Wales (NIAW),
• small group teaching and highly skilled and experienced consultant faculty (with years of experience of performing USGRA).

Who it’s for

This course is primarily designed for practitioners in emergency care and anaesthesia (however, it is suitable for any clinician keen to expand their repertoire of multimodal pain management strategies). Content is appropriate for emergency physicians working in Wales, the UK and internationally.

What you’ll learn

The USGRA blocks covered during the face-to-face element of this course include:

Neck	Trunk	Upper limb	Lower limb
Superficial cervical plexus block Interscalene block	Erector spinae plane block Serratus anterior block	Supraclavicular brachial plexus block Suprascapular + axillary nerve blocks Radial, ulnar + median nerve blocks	Hip blocks (femoral nerve, fascia iliaca + pericapsular nerve group) Transgluteal sciatic nerve block Popliteal sciatic nerve block Ankle blocks

Course content has been created in alignment with UK contemporary practise. Delegates will learn modern USGRA skills required by anaesthetist and emergency physicians.

On completion of this clinical CPD course, delegates should be able to:

• describe and identify the relevant anatomy of the block location; use ultrasound to locate nerves in the neck, arms, torso, and legs, differentiating nerves from surrounding structures such as tendons and muscles
• summarise the benefits of individual block procedures; discuss the benefits and hazards; understand how to approach nerves with in-plane and out-of-plane techniques; choose the appropriate nerve to anesthetize for particular injury patterns; correctly position patients for each type of block to enhance success
• use your new knowledge and skills to construct a practical plan to address a defined clinical problem - discussing how an individual technique could be, considering alternative strategies, and comparing and contrasting anaesthetic techniques to achieve the clinical objective
• evaluate the USGRA options, consider the nature of the patient and location, along with risks associated with anatomy and local anaesthetic toxicity, to make an argument for the safest course of action.

Topics covered

Pre-course eLearning (3 hours)

eLearning modules consist of a video lectures and demonstrations, up-to-date reading recommendations and optional formative questions to test knowledge. All course material will be provided for 6 weeks before and 6 weeks after the face-to-face course.

Face-to face Course (7 hours)

The face-to-face component is where delegates will be working in small groups to develop their USGRA skills with guidance throughout clinical skills stations and extensive debrief / discussion. The following is the timetable for the day:

Time	Content
08:30 – 09:00	Registration/coffee
09:00 – 09:10	Welcome; introduction to venue, facilitators and equipment
09:10 – 09:30	Small group instruction: USS principles/pitfalls/knobology
09:30 – 10:45	Rotating workshops: machine set up/optimisation models to demonstrate relevant anatomy familiarisation with NRFit connectors phantoms to demonstrate needling techniques in and out of plane.
10:45 – 11:10	Break
11:10 – 12:40	Rotating workshops: NeedleTrainer equipment familiarisation models to demonstrate relevant anatomy phantoms to demonstrate needling techniques in and out of plane small group discussion on local anaesthetic dilution and mixing.
12:40 – 13:30	Lunch
13:30 – 15:00	Rotating workshops: models to demonstrate relevant anatomy learners demonstrate needling techniques using phantoms and NeedleTrainer small group discussion on local anaesthetic toxicity and treatment
15:00 – 15:20	Break
15:20 – 16:30	Rotating workshops: models to demonstrate relevant anatomy phantoms to demonstrate needling techniques and insertion of continuous nerve block catheters small group discussion Q&A.
16:30 – 17:00	Summary and close

Please note:

• the example timetable above is subject to change
• the optional end-of-course social meal is not included in the price
• anatomy to be viewed on live models
• needle insertion to be performed on phantoms
• AI-powered simulator NeedleTrainer to be used for needle visualisation and tracking in live models.

Post-course ‘open-book’ eAssessment (1 hour)

The post-course eAssessment will open following the face-to-face component. It can be sat in an open-book asynchronous fashion within 6 weeks of the end of the face-to-face course.

Benefits

This course has been issued with 11 CPD/CME points. Other benefits include:

• blended delivery approach: eLearning component allows you to learn flexibly, in your own time, while the face-to-face session offers practical multidisciplinary peer learning
• teaching is aligned with contemporary UK clinical practice
• small group teaching with practice on live volunteers and ultrasound phantoms
• use of cart-based ultrasound machines, handheld ultrasound equipment and ultrasound simulators
• delivered by experienced faculty with high level skills in USGRA.

Location