Perspectives Winter/Spring 2019

42 | DR. PALLAVI PATEL COLLEGE OF HEALTH CARE SCIENCES EVENT Perspectives | JUNE 2018 The Orlando Physician Assistant (PA) Program hosted the second annual Shark SonoSlam on June 29. The event is a competition held at the culmination of the Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) course. The course came to fruition with the guidance of Rachel Krackov, Ph.D., PA-C, RVS, adjunct professor, and was piloted by the Orlando PA Program in 2017 with support from program director Lorilee Butler, D.H.Sc., PA-C. The course objective is to increase the students’ knowledge of ultrasound technology application while building their technical competency. The Shark SonoSlam competition was a collabora- tive effort between faculty members and student lead- ers from the class of 2018 who expressed interest in enhancing their POCUS skills. The yearly competition takes place to augment the POCUS course. The competition entailed various stations, includ- ing ultrasound-guided procedures, focused assess- ment with sonography for trauma exam, vascular imaging, and other POCUS-related imaging studies. One unique station required a student to perform a blindfolded ultrasound under verbal guidance from teammates. This exercise incorporated the use of the six- cardinal-transducer movement terminology. Faculty members evaluated and scored the student teams. The teams with the highest scores advanced to the final round, which incorporated an emergency medicine scenario that required the use of POCUS. The Orlando PA students and alumni gained a clinical affinity for the use of POCUS, and their feedback has been extremely positive. “The best EVENT PERSPECTIVES Shark SonoSlam Annual Competition Builds Student Confidence BY SARAH KIMBLE, B.A., AND VICTOR QUINONES, M.S., PA-C, EMT-P