About us

POCUS Frimley provides training in Point of Care Ultrasound for clinicians who aim at learning how to imaging with ultrasound at the bed side, a skill considered essential in today medical practice.

The formula adopted privileges the practical and directly supervised scanning on models and patients and the active interactions between learners and faculty rather than formal lessons.

The faculties are made up by clinicians expert in POCUS coming from different specialties, Acute Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Intensive Care and General Surgery. 

We strongly believe that a course not followed by practice and supervision can be a waste of time and money, therefore we offer  post-course mentorship on request.

We are accredited to deliver Core Emergency Medicine Ultrasound, FICE (Focused Intensive Care Echo) and FAMUS (Focused Acute Medicine Ultrasound) courses.  

Courses

The different courses aim towards well defined learning objectives, relevant to the specific challenges faced by the different professional profiles involved in patient care at the front door:

​POCUS on the acutely unwell patient (FAMUS and FUSIC)

The 5x5 POCUS training project gives the ability of excluding in 5 minutes the 5 main life threatening conditions of the unstable medical patient.

HIGHLIGHTS

The integration of cardiac function, IVC status and lung/pleura findings in a unifying POCUS protocol aims at orienteering in 5 minutes towards 5 of the main causes of instability in the acutely ill patient: hypovolemic shock, obstructive shock (pulmonary embolism and hypertensive pneumothorax), cardiac tamponade, primary lung failure (COPD, pneumonia ARDS) and primary heart failure.

Theory and practical sessions on US diagnosis of lung and pleura pathologies, left and right ventricle systolic function, volemic status, gross valvular morphology and pericardium.

Hands on sessions on models and patients with personalized coaching in group of 3.

Core Emergency Medicine Ultrasound

To empower emergency physician with the skill of ruling-in immediately life threatening conditions like: hemoperitoneum in trauma, AAA in the acute abdomen and primary cardiac causes of cardiac arrest.

The Finishing School is a two days course. The first day aims at preparing to the final sign off and at the completion of the logbook, with coached scanning on patients and simulated cases on models.  The second day is dedicated to the final sign off.

HIGHLIGHTS

Introduction to Emergency Ultrasound    

based on the RCEM curriculum​

Theory and practical sessions on E-FAST,

Abdominal Aorta, ECHO in Life Support and Vascular Access

Theory and practical sessions on E-FAST,

Abdominal Aorta, ECHO in Life Support and Vascular Access

Finishing school

A two days course aiming at preparing to the final sign off of Core Emergency Medicine Ultrasound competence and at the completion of the logbook. 

HIGHLIGHTS

First Day: coached scanning on patients and simulated cases on models.

Second Day:

Final sign off

To enhance the accuracy of the clinician in the assessment of the patient presenting with acute abdominal symptoms

HIGHLIGHTS

Main abdominal US landmarks

AAA and free intra-peritoneal fluid 

Acute pathologies of the liver, gallbladder and biliary tree 

Renal colic and different degrees of hydronephrosis, polycistic kidney, CKD​

Small bowel obstruction, acute appendicitis, diverticulitis and IBD 

Supervised hands on practice on live models and patients

Upcoming courses

The next courses are listed here*. Click for details or to register. You can check our events history here.

The next courses are listed here*. Click for details or to register. You can check our events history here.

COMBINED FUSIC heart module - FAMUS (2 days)

FUSIC heart and FAMUS combination course - 2 days

Faculty

Lorenzo Cristoni is a Consultant in Acute Medicine at Frimley Park Hospital.

He is an enthusiast FICE, CUSIC and FAMUS mentor with a 20 years’ experience in point of care ultrasound and a particular commitment in promoting POCUS as the 5th pillar of the clinical examination in all the courses where he teaches.

He is an expert in abdominal US, with a particular interest in ultrasound of the intestine, and in the integrated heart-lung-IVC sonographic approach to the acutely unwell patient.

He is the founder and the director of POCUS Frimley.

Upinder Dial is a Consultant Physician in Acute Medicine at

King’s College London Hospital NHS foundation trust, Princess Royal University Hospital.

She has a wealth of experience in point of care ultrasound applied in all domains of internal medicine, Emergency Medicine and Intensive Care. 

She is a FAMUS mentor, teaching lead for Acute Medicine in her Trust and teaches US extensively.

Sitara Khan is a Consultant cardiologist at Frimley Park Hospital, echo lead for the Trust, BSE accredited for TT and TE echo. 

Sitara is a FICE supervisor, an exceptional teacher and the ultimate cultural reference for echo in POCUS Frimley.

Carlo Arrigo is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, POCUS lead for the Emergency Department, POCUS HEE KSS Regional deputy lead. 

Carlo’s commitment for the spread of POCUS skills in Emergency Medicine goes along with his incredible teaching activity through the deanery.

Roberto Lauro is a Consultant in General Surgery, HPB/UGI and Emergency Surgery at Frimley Park Hospital.

He has a huge experience in ultrasound as operator and mentor, having applied and taught POCUS all over Italy over the last 25 years as permanent member of the Italian Society of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (SIUMB).

He applies US in Emergency and General Surgery. His main area of expertise is US in Liver and Biliary Surgery including Liver Transplantation, RFTA and MW Ablation in Liver Tumours under US guidance in percutaneous and laparoscopic approach. 

Marcus Peck is a consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine at Frimley Park Hospital, co-chair of the Focused Ultrasound for Intensive Care (FUSIC) committee and author of the OUP textbook 'Focused Intensive Care Ultrasound'. He is a passionate ultrasound trainer and teaches widely. Marcus sits on several national committees, including the Intensive Care Society Council and British Society of Echocardiography (BSE)’s Acreditation and Professional Standards committees, focused on improving echo training opportunities and quality assurance. He relishes breaking down organisational barriers and dreams of the day when ultrasound is normal practice for every frontline clinician. You can find Marcus on Twitter as @ICUltrasonica 

Matt Holl is a trainee ST4 in Acute Medicine at the Royal Surrey County Hospital. His main interest is US simulation for invasive procedures. 

In POCUS Frimley he is the reference for US guided procedures on phantoms.

Eshan Ashcroft is a BSE accredited Cardiac Physiologist in Echo, lead of ultrasound training for all cardiac registrars and training echocardiographers at Ashford and St Peters Hospital.

He has more than 5 years’ experience in

transthoracic echocardiography and point of care ultrasound in wide range of clinical environments.

He has a keen interest in research and in acute heart failure.