Ultrasound QA Training Course : Probe Care Essentials

Multi-Medix will soon restart “face to face” ultrasound QA training courses, beginning with “Probe Care Essentials”.

When developing our courses we have started with what ultrasound users need and want. Our staff recently attended a BMUS study day and consulted with key individuals to ensure our QA course programmes achieve the desired outcomes:

• Attendees will learn how to prevent probe damage, minimising bills for the department.
• This bitesize course fits well into a lunchtime or clinical governance slot

What do I need to know about Probe Care?

The cornerstone to good quality assurance is effective probe care.  Our course “Probe Care Essentials” will cover the basics and demonstrate how it fits into the QA cycle.  This short hour course would take place either online or at your location.

Quality Assurance is not something that is just done by Medical Physics, Biomeds or your QA lead only. It is done by all these people and ultrasound users. QA requires a combined effort but it starts with the daily checks all sonographers and imaging assistants must attend to. The checks take minutes at the start of the day, but are critical to patient safety.

When did you last check your probes?

Yesterday? Last month? Can’t remember?

Quality Assurance is a core competency of ultrasound users.  Diagnostic Imaging Support Workers are expected to be

“Undertaking defined QA/QC checks on equipment, working to a set procedure/protocol (such as ultrasound equipment or image display monitors). Identify nonconformities, and record and report results appropriately”  AHP Support Worker Competency, Education and Career Development Framework:)

The BMUS/S0R Professional Guidelines for Professional Ultrasound Practise state (Section 2.9: Ultrasound Equipment and Quality Assurance Testing)

“An ultrasound practitioner is expected to:

1. Have detailed knowledge of ultrasound equipment in order to ensure that it is appropriate for purpose
2. Manipulate the equipment correctly so that patient diagnosis and management are not compromised
3. Take care when using the equipment in order to avoid damage
4. Ensure that regular planned preventative maintenance is carried out by qualified personnel
5. Ensure that an agreed quality assurance programme is in place that incorporates the regular inspection of ultrasound machines and ancillary equipment”

Ultrasound quality assurance is a legal activity so naturally requests for training and help did not stop because of the pandemic. The most common request was for a Probe Care course either because ultrasound users said they were looking for refresher training or considering developing an ultrasound QA programme in their department.

If you would like to request more information about Probe Care Essentials or our other training courses click here.

Multi-Medix is proud to be a silver sponsor at the BMUS Conference this year. The title for the 2021 conference is “Striving for Excellence”: a message that resonates with our mission to provide Quality Assurance training and services.

We are an active participant in the BMUS conference – we intend to attend many of the session as well as the presenting those below. Our team are looking forward to interacting with the BMUS Community from November 29th through to December 9th.

Registration is open until Sunday 28th November, with the industry sessions such as ours, free to watch. A full programme of events can be found here.

Multi-Medix is participating the following events:

Thursday December 2nd 10am

New Beamforming Technologies etc

Our Research Director, Dr Nick Dudley, presents on “Sonographer Lead Ultrasound QA”, as part of a general session on QA.

“With the ever-wider adoption of the Quality Standard for Imaging by clinical departments across the country, the regular quality assurance testing of ultrasound scanners by sonographers and physicists is becoming increasingly important. This session examines some of the new and established quality assurance techniques that are available today, and shows how they can be effectively implemented in busy imaging departments”

For more information about the session, click here:

The “Diagnostic Ultrasound QA Manual”, available on the Multi-Medix website by joining the QA Knowledge portal here is a great aide for anyone wishing to start a User QA Programme.

Monday December 6th 8pm

“A survey of ultrasound QA implementation in the UK “- 

In July 2020, A questionnaire was developed and sent to 170 NHS Chief Executives and relevant Imaging departments to establish the level of QA in place in their Trusts. Our Research Director, Dr Nick Dudley, goes through the findings and recommendations.

This is followed by

The BMUS Conference Quiz! 

The ever popular quiz this year is being sponsored by Multi-Medix. Get you fingers on the buzzers and no cheating please!

 

Wednesday December 3.30pm – FREE INDUSTRY SESSION

“Anatomy of the Probe: What’s inside and why its important to you”

Effective transducer care is important to patient safety.

Learn how to look after your probe from the inside out. We will be in our advanced probe testing lab, ready for a practical session showing you a dissected probe.

For more information, click here

 

Win an iPad!

To celebrate the BMUS conference this year, we have created a quick quiz on Ultrasound Quality Assurance. Every entry submitted also is submitted into a prize draw for a iPad (closing date midday December 17th 2021)

To take the quiz, click here. Good luck!

 

We look forward to learning, meeting with you (albeit virtually) and hopefully also being able to have some laughs with you all over the two weeks of the conference.

The Multi-Medix Team

 

 

 

 

Multi-Medix is proud to announce that it will be holding “bitesize” QA webinars in May.

Each webinar will only be 20 mins long with 10 minutes for questions at the end, available live and via recordings.

If you are thinking of starting an ultrasound QA programme or want a refresher on QA activities, these informal and short sessions are ideal.

The series of webinars will include the following topics & will all be at 7.30pm GMT.

All webinars will be hosted by Dr Nick Dudley and Darren Woolley, who will be joined for session 4 by Gillian Harrison, Professional Officer Ultrasound SCoR.

No 1      Tuesday 4^th May            Components of a QA system

No 2      Tuesday 11^th May          User QA & Audit

No 3      Tuesday 18^th May          Baselining

No 4      Tuesday 25^th May        “Putting it all together”. Open Q&A and discussion re CPD.

After each webinar, the recording will be held here for you access whenever you wish.  If you can’t wait until May, don’t forget we have 8 short videos to accompany our ” Diagnostic Ultrasound QA Manual – simply log onto the Online Knowledge portal to see them.

Register here

As we are often asked about starting an Ultrasound User QA programme, here’s some advice on why a QA programme should be implemented and delivered. Read on to find out what has been the outcome at an NHS Trust we have recently visited.

Why train staff on Ultrasound QA?

On average, studies show a third of systems/probes have defects. These can be picked up easily from daily and monthly user QA checks. Though ultrasound systems may be under maintenance contracts, these may not include ultrasound QA checks, and are usually annual. The primary objective of the user QA training is to empower staff to be able to perform ultrasound user QA, enabling greater patient safety.

Demystifying Ultrasound QA for sonographers

Many sonographers tell us they are wary of the “physics” when it comes to ultrasound QA. Multi-Medix aims to demystify ultrasound user QA for sonographers. (And this does not necessitate revision of physics modules from your student days in order to get started!)

Implementing ultrasound user QA – it’s all about creating new habits

You can start a QA Programme today: The Multi-Medix Diagnostic Ultrasound QA Manual and Knowledge portal are freely available and include step by step video guides providing a practical starting point to starting an Ultrasound User QA programme. Click here for more information.

Each hospital in the UK was sent a physical copy of the manual also. Please contact [email protected] for more information and further copies.

However, sometimes asking for help can “kickstart” new behaviours more effectively. For user QA to be effective, ideally it should become routine. When starting a new exercise habit, we often choose to join a regular class or hire a personal trainer. They check on how we doing, helping to enforce the new habit. In the same way, some hospitals and clinics choose to ask Multi-Medix to help implement their good QA habits therefore delivering positive outcomes more quickly.

Each hospital is different – there is no “one size fits all”. Recently we visited South Warwickshire NHS Trust. There was a lot of careful discussion with staff before a mutually agreed programme and timetable was decided. This included how the training was to take place, over what time period (so patient appointments were not impacted) and how success could be measured. Existing maintenance contract and medical physics department support were also taken into consideration so there was no duplication of effort and only existing gaps in necessary QA work were filled.

*****

South Warwickshire NHS Trust training “in a nutshell”

4 staff were trained over 2 months

15 systems were QA baselined

Favourite staff comment was “You did not blind us with physics talk!”

6 visits were made (to work around patient appointments)

Follow up visits arranged.

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Positive outcomes

Ultrasound user QA training is an investment in staff and systems, that pays back over time.

Empowerment: Staff leave the course confident that they are able to perform regular checks and they, in turn, can train others.

Compliance: A functional QA programme that aligns with the mandatory requirement of OEMs, guiding institutes and societies.

Financial payback: Quality assurance processes help to prolong the life of the system – early defects are spotted that are more likely to be fixed at a lower cost than replacing equipment later.

Peace of mind: Staff have greater confidence and peace of mind that the ultrasound systems they are using on patients are giving accurate readings.

About Multi-Medix

The Multi-Medix team are built on the foundations of ex-NHS Clinical Scientists and Clinical Technologists, we are passionate about quality, customer service and patient safety.

Multi-Medix are specialists in ultrasound, offering a range of independent multi-brand services at affordable prices.

Multi-Medix are ISO 13485:2016 certified by BSI under certificate number MD 677953.

We are the independent choice for specialist diagnostic imaging ultrasound services, offering essential services and savings to Hospitals, Healthcare Professionals, Business’s and Veterinarians.

Would you like to see what we get up to in our lab? Take a look here.

Multi-Medix offers an extensive range of services for Ultrasound Equipment you can find out more here. 

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