Online early pregnancy ultrasound course

Learning outcomes

• Know about normal early pregnancy development, as seen through the ultrasound lens, for both singleton and twin pregnancies
• Optimise ultrasound images through knowledge of physics, machine settings and patient aspects such as uterine axis and patient size
• Understand terminology for probe manoeuvres and anatomical planes
• Know when and when not to do POCUS and when and how to seek additional imaging and other expertise
• Diagnose miscarriage precisely and outline women’s treatment options
• Diagnose tubal ectopic pregnancy precisely and outline women’s treatment options
• Image ovaries and recognise serious or common complications in early pregnancy
• Reflect on and improve practice for experienced Early Pregnancy Assessment Clinics (EPAC) practitioners and those wishing to initiate or develop an EPAC service
• Prepare for supervised POCUS practice, workshops, simulation, and assessments, whether as a trainee or trainer/assessor

Course structure

Course units

• Tutorial 1: Introduction to ultrasound
• Tutorial 2: Introduction to Early Pregnancy Point of Care Ultrasound
• Tutorial 3: How to do transabdominal ultrasound 
• Tutorial 4: How to do transvaginal ultrasound
• Tutorial 5: Diagnosis and management of miscarriage
• Tutorial 6: Diagnosis and management of tubal ectopic pregnancy
• Tutorial 7: Miscellaneous early pregnancy ultrasound topics 

Delivery mode

Course completion requires approximately 16 hours of elearning, including 7 interactive tutorials and 10 online case studies to practice interpretation. Students have the flexibility to study in their own time and location. Program material can be accessed through the eLearning Education App on mobiles and tablets with iOS, Android or Windows systems. Program material can also be accessed on a PC using a web browser.

Assessment

A Certificate of Completion is issued upon satisfactory completion of the course assessment requirements: 7 tutorial unit self-assessments and 10 case studies.

Entry requirements

Participants of this course should be either enrolled in, or have graduated from, a midwifery or medical degree.

Continuing Professional Development

Participants who successfully complete this course will be eligible to receive CPD points from RACGP, ACRRM, or the ACM.

Course fees

$285 (incl GST) for doctors (specialists/ GPs)

$195 (incl GST) for midwives/ trainees/ students 

Course directors

Dr Elizabeth McCarthy is a Senior Lecturer, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Melbourne. Obstetrician and maternal fetal medicine subspecialist, Mercy Hospital for Women, Heidelberg, and Northern Hospital, Epping, Australia. FRANZCOG, CMFM, DDU

Liz completed her Doctor of Medicine in 2006, and her postdoctoral studies have addressed clinical areas of high priority in obstetrics, including obesity in pregnancy, late miscarriage, perinatal palliative care, vaccination during pregnancy, and ultrasound biometry for detection of fetal growth disorders. She has published invited editorials in both The Lancet and British Medical Journal in the diagnosis of miscarriage and fetal growth disorders. She has led several randomised controlled trials investigating the place of simple interventions to reduce gestational weight gain. Liz’s expertise in the area of vaccination in pregnancy and public health advocacy are evidenced by her previous invited position on Australian Technical Advisory Group on (Pertussis and Influenza) Vaccination. She provides consultative advice to RANZCOG in this important area, and is also an associate editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the official scientific journal of RANZCOG.

Professor Sue Walker is a maternal-fetal medicine sub-specialist and an academic clinical researcher. She founded and continues to lead the Mercy Hospital for Women’s Perinatal Department. Sue is a national leader in her field, frequently invited to speak at international and national conferences and was recently awarded an Order of Australia. One of her primary research priorities is reducing preventable stillbirth. Her work has, and continues to focus upon, better assessment of fetal wellbeing and placental function. Sue has fostered a strong educational program through Mercy Perinatal, delivering the Fetal Medicine at Twilight Seminar series, and the hugely successful, annually sold-out conference, the Global Obstetric Update. This ultrasound course is the newest educational initiative that Sue has championed in her quest to bring babies safely home.