Tips and Tricks for an Ultrasound Teaching Engagement or Lecture

Trent She, MD, FACEP
Hartford Hospital
Tiffany Fong, MD, FACEP
Johns Hopkins University
David Suwondo, MD
Johns Hopkins, University
Michael Secko, MD, FACEP
Stony Brook University Hospital
Amy Kule, MD, FACEP
Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine
Kristine Schultz, MD
University of South Florida

on behalf of the ACEP Ultrasound Resident Education Subcommittee

Being invited to lecture or teach at another institution is both a great compliment and a great opportunity. It means that someone thinks highly enough of you to ask you to teach their staff and it also gives you, as the teacher, the ability to connect to a group that you normally do not get to engage with. We have solicited our subcommittee to give some important tips to those that may have the opportunity to teach somewhere other than home.

Lecture Tips

• Bring Your Presentation in Multiple Formats: When you go to an institution that is different from yours, they may have different ways to set up their presentation system. You may need to connect to your laptop or you may have to use a pre-existing computer, and that computer may be a Windows or a Mac. Having your presentation saved in multiple ways - on your computer, on a USB drive or in a cloud-based drive (e.g. Google or Microsoft) - will prepare you for whatever may come. If you use Keynote to present, it may also be worth it to save an additional version of your Keynote presentation in a PowerPoint or Google Slides format in case you are not presenting off a Mac computer. Also consider emailing it to yourself so you can have a backup copy in your inbox!
• Consider Bringing a Dongle to VGA or HDMI: If you are going to connect your laptop to the audiovisual equipment at your engagement, make sure you have a matching dongle. The majority of institutions will have a VGA or HDMI connector so having a dongle that matches this to your computer is quite handy.
• Consider Bringing a Clicker: Since you will not know where the lectern will be in relation to your audience or screen, bringing a clicker ensures that you can advance your slides while standing in the best location to engage your audience during your presentation.
• Consider Bringing a Laser Pointer: Using a pointer helps you direct your audience’s concentration without you having to walk up to demonstrate items on the screen. Many clickers also double as pointers as well.
• Allot Extra Time Before and After the Event: You will want extra time to examine your lecture space and to trial your lecture and you want to ensure you have time for questions and answers. Engaging with participants after the event may lead to further opportunities and collaborations.
• QR Codes: Oftentimes, it may be hard to send a list of references or a set of useful clips. QR codes make everything accessible to listeners of your presentation. Just remember to give time for people to actually scan your QR code. Consider emailing the QR code to the leadership to distribute after the lecture.
• Aim for Professional, but feel free to bring fun clothing or accessories: Ultrasound people are in general fun-loving and energetic, but always come professionally dressed first and consider changing attire if inviting institution is agreeable. If you’re invited back again, you can take cues from the culture of the group you are visiting.
• Solicit feedback: Feedback is important not only to improve your future presentations but also to gauge the effectiveness of your presentation and instruction. Gathering specific (and ideally positive) feedback also may help you in academic promotions.
• Consider Dimming the Lights: Ultrasound images project best in the dark so you may want a dimly lit room so you can best see images.
• For Hybrid or Virtual Only Lectures, make sure your screen is shared and your audio is on and working: Making sure your virtual audience can see the screen and hear you is just as important as making sure your in-person audience can do the same! Be mindful of your background and your foreground lighting.
• Ask about your audience: Are your audience first time sonographers? Experts in a particular specialty or field? Pre-hospital providers? Knowing who you are going to talk to can help you tailor your education to their needs.
• Make eye contact with your audience: Pick different people around the room to make eye contact with or to call on to show the audience you are engaged with them.
• If there are lectures before yours, participate in them! By sitting through the lectures that occur before yours, you can gauge how formal or informal the style of the conference can be. You can also gauge to see if you will be teaching your audience in the same fashion (cardiac indicator on the left/right, DVT protocol, etc).

Hands-On Teaching Tips

• Use Your Laser Pointer to Demonstrate Findings on the Screen: Since ultrasound machines can have small screens, by demonstrating findings from further away can maximize screen time and visualization for your learners. Note: if you are using laser pointers on ultrasound machines and screens, you may choose a less bright pointer to decrease the reflection or refraction off your ultrasound screen.
• Examples of Pathology: Bring a couple examples of pathology that you can demonstrate on your phone/tablet/laptop. Models most often do not have pathology and so visualizing a few pathologic slides in the moment can be extremely helpful.
• Engage models as instructors: They may be able to offer valuable insight related to image acquisition technique from the patient perspective (e.g. pressure, draping, patient communication).

Have a tip or trick you think you want to share. Email trent.she@gmail.com!