Copenhagen, Denmark 2010 – EFSUMB Education & Professional Standards Committee Report to the Board of Directors

Table of Contents

Membership from 2009
Odd Helge Gilja	Chairman	Norway
Fabio Piscaglia	Ex-officio member	Italy
Holger Strunk	Vice-chairman	Germany
Gebhard Mathis	Member	Austria
Jan Tuma	Member	Switzerland
Julia Walton	Member	UK
Francesco Drudi	Co-opted member	Italy
Boris Brkljacic	Co-opted member	Croatia
Christoph F Dietrich	Co-opted member	Germany
Lynne Rudd	General Secretary	UK

Euroson Schools

The EPS Committee has worked to promote more Euroson Schools to be arranged throughout Europe. The first Euroson School of EFSUMB was arranged in 1992 and since then at least 55 courses have been held. Last year we experienced an ”all-time-high” record of 8 ES held in one year. We encourage all the National Societies and ultrasound groups all over Europe to consider establishing a post-graduate course under the umbrella of a Euroson School. A dedicated “start package” has been established to help the organisers of Euroson Schools (www.efsumb.org.) We are working to change the ES bylaws in order to reduce the formal requirements for potential organisers. Furthermore, the cooperation with BRACCO, also including financial support, has enabled several ES on CEUS to be held. Highly instructive electronic presentations from these ES on CEUS are available at our website.

The EFSUMB Website

The EPS Committee stimulates production of educational material to be posted on the Web. EPSC has initiated the process of making the EFSUMB web-site an educational portal for ultrasound imaging. The launching of this new web-portal is taking place these days. The basic idea is to build up a database of high quality and relevant educational material (text, images, videos, presentations, course syllabus etc).

Minimum Training Recommendations

The Committee values the great importance of ensuring high quality in education and sustaining high professional standards in ultrasound scanning. Therefore, EFSUMB has over the years established guidelines in ultrasound education for the different medical disciplines. EPSC will continue this work by completing already undertaken guidelines and stimulate new guidelines to be produced. The minimum training recommendations number 14 (on CEUS) has now been finalised and are soon to be published.

EFSUMB Course Book

Prof. C.F. Dietrich has taken the initiative together with leading authors from many other European countries to create a common, truly European, interdisciplinary course book. The core of the first version of this course book is abdominal ultrasonography.

It is our hope that this systematic theoretical approach in combination with hands-on training led by experienced and eventually nationally licensed tutors should make a decisive contribution to counteract the complaints of incompetent ultrasound operators. Furthermore, we wish that the curriculum and the textbook may be of value for you in the development of systematic ultrasound training in your country.

EUROSON Congress

These congresses are very important arenas for ultrasound education and communicating high professional standards. In Edinburgh 2009, the EPSC was responsible for a session on “Ultrasound on the web“ with the following program:

Chairs: Odd Helge Gilja and Christian Nolsoe

Overview of ultrasound educational web resources (D. Cosgrove)

How to present and organise dynamic ultrasound images on the web? (L. Thorelius)

CME on the web (F. Drudi)

Integration of EFSUMB course book with the EFSUMB website. (C. Dietrich)

For Copenhagen this year, the Committee is also responsible for a session on education.

Committee membership

Finally, I would like to thank my friends in the EPSC, for their work in the Committee and for the effort they make for the best of ultrasound education on a European level.

Odd Helge Gilja
Chairman EPSC

Odd Helge Gilja