From the Chair

Dear Ultrasound Section Members,

Happy 2021! We made it! It was great to virtually meet with you at the historic ACEP20 Virtual Scientific Assembly in October. Congrats to Dr. Nova Panebianco on her achievements and productivity as the ACEP Emergency Ultrasound Section Chair during the past year. Many thanks for her continued leadership, support, and friendship as we continue to advocate for our subspecialty.

My term as the section Chair has started off with a sprint. There have been numerous action items since October.  The ultrasound leadership continues to extinguish attacks directed towards point-of-care ultrasound. I will update you more on this in the upcoming months.

Last November, the Emergency Ultrasound leaders of ACEP, AAEM, SAEM and SCUF convened to address the removal of the ultrasound sub-competency (PC12) from the ACGME Milestones 2.0. It brings me immense pride that the emergency ultrasound community was able to collaborate with a strong, unified voice. Even more, the ultrasound leaders committed to serving our subspecialty in meetings through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Not that’s commitment! Many thanks to the 141 ultrasound members who responded to the ACGME Milestones survey regarding the omission of the ultrasound sub-competency with short notice. We need to hear your voice regardless of your stance. I would like to personally thank the co-chairs of the Resident Education Subcommittee, Drs. Stephen Alerhand and Liang Liu, and the subcommittee members who were instrumental in compiling the recommended ultrasound friendly changes for the ACGME Milestones 2.0. Please read their newsletter submission that provides background information and their great work.

In the next few months, we will be busy revising the ACEP Emergency Ultrasound Imaging Criteria Compendium. This highly cited document is revised every 6 years and will be expanded to reflect our current practices as we have advanced as a subspecialty. As we continue our physically distanced lives, we plan to keep you engaged with webinars on handheld ultrasound best practices and research pearls from our subcommittees. Thank you for all your contributions and advocacy for the great work being done. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you would like to become involved with the section. I wish you all a healthy new year as we continue to lead at the frontlines of this pandemic.

Penelope Lema, MD FACEP