Educational Experience

One Year

1 - 2

The UCSF Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship offers a robust curriculum designed to build expertise across all facets of emergency ultrasound—clinical application, education, administration, and research.

• Proctored Scanning Shifts: Hands-on experience in the ED with adult and pediatric patients under expert faculty guidance to develop proficiency in image acquisition and interpretation for both basic and advanced ultrasound applications.
• Didactics & Image Review: Weekly QA sessions, core lectures, and curated readings reinforce both foundational and advanced ultrasound knowledge.
• Advanced Applications: Hands-on simulation sessions with faculty facilitate learning of advanced techniques such as transesophageal echocardiography and regional anesthesia applications.
• Teaching Opportunities: Fellow-led monthly lectures and frequent bedside instruction for students, residents, and faculty help build strong teaching skills and a comprehensive ultrasound teaching portfolio.
• Professional Development: Fellows attend the ESP physics course at the beginning of the fellowship and receive funding to attend the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) annual conference, which features expert-led education from a variety of medical specialties.
• Journal Club: Monthly sessions focus on the critical appraisal of emerging literature, study design, and data interpretation.
• Research: Each fellow completes a mentored research project with guidance from experienced faculty and statistical support from UC Merced.
• Ultrasound Program Administration: Fellows participate in QA review, credentialing and privileging processes, machine maintenance, and database management—gaining practical experience in ultrasound program operations.

Ultrasound fellows are encouraged to participate in educating learners throughout UCSF Fresno and Community Regional Medical Center. Additional opportunities include:

• Delivering lectures on critical care ultrasound topics to pulmonary/critical care fellows and internal medicine residents
• Assisting with the annual UCSF Fresno intern boot camp in June, which includes ultrasound-guided vascular access training
• Facilitating training sessions on ultrasound-guided IV access for ED and observation unit nurses

Community Regional Medical Center (CRMC) is the only site. It is a high volume, high acuity level 1 trauma center in central Fresno. CRMC is a tertiary care center and receiving hospital for much of California’s San Joaquin valley. Our emergency medicine residency program was founded in 1974 and is one of the oldest and most well respected in the country. We are a four-year program training 10-12 emergency medicine residents each year. We are also home to a robust emergency medicine physician assistant residency and are the primary clinical rotation site for UCSF medical students training through the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) Prime training pathway.