Section of Emergency Ultrasound

The Section of Emergency Ultrasound in the Yale Department of Emergency Medicine is among the most established point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) programs in the United States. Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) is the primary clinical and teaching site of Yale School of Medicine and sees nearly 200,000 visits annually across three sites. In the last year we logged more than 20,000 POCUS examinations at our primary site.

Our section was founded in 2002, and welcomed its first fellow in 2003, one of the longest standing US fellowship programs in the country. Yale New Haven Hospital's designation as a Level 1 Trauma Center and a nationally recognized cancer center ensures exposure to a uniquely complex patient population. Our clinicians apply POCUS daily across a wide spectrum of presentations, including thoracic and abdominal trauma, pulmonary embolism, acute cardiac pathology, ectopic pregnancy, oncologic emergencies, and procedures including advanced ultrasound-guided nerve blocks. POCUS is integral to clinical decision-making on every shift.

We have used the QPathE systems since 2012 which now houses nearly 300,000 POCUS examinations. All exam reports and images are integrated into our Epic and PACS systems.

Our Emergency Ultrasound Section includes eight faculty members who are fellowship trained in ultrasound, and we train up to three fellows annually. Our four-year residency program has twice been Sonogames national champions. We are responsible for integration of POCUS into undergraduate medical education and introduce POCUS to more than 100 medical students each year. We have run a national course for the last 25 years, now hosted annually in Newport RI, that attracts attendees from around the world.

For more than two decades we have been on the forefront of POCUS research, with funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Biomedical Advanced Research and Defense Authority (BARDA), Philips Healthcare, GE Healthcare, and numerous foundations. Our faculty have published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers on POCUS and have multiple active research projects in progress.

Yale's academic environment fosters robust opportunities for interdisciplinary POCUS research and collaboration across departments and specialties. We are committed to remaining at the forefront of ultrasound technology, bedside ultrasound education, and clinical advancement as the field continues to evolve.

We invite emergency medicine residents, ultrasound fellows, and point-of-care ultrasound clinicians to explore the training opportunities, research initiatives, and educational resources offered by our program.