Peter Bonadonna is a certified EMT Paramedic since 1978 and has worked in various roles from emergency ambulance provider to Paramedic Program Director and now as a Community Paramedic. His interest in ultrasound began in 1985 when a cardiologist friend introduced him to ultrasound and he became enthralled with the technology. At that time, ultrasound machines were too big and too expensive to have in the ambulance but today it fits in his pocket.
Q: Tell us a little bit about your work and how POCUS relates.
In addition to adding point-of-care ultrasound to our Paramedic Program curriculum, I formed a small company and I now travel around the country teaching healthcare providers at all levels about the value of POCUS. I also work as a community paramedic visiting heart failure and LVAD patients and there are many times that POCUS has answered important clinical questions for our providers. My goal is to train all of the associated staff because I truly believe this will be a ubiquitous tool in the next few years.
Q: Why did you pursue POCUS certification and how did you find the process to be?
Well there are really two reasons why I chose to gain POCUS certification. The first is that I wanted to see how my knowledge base and skill stacked up against other providers of point-of-care ultrasound and by taking the tests and meeting the standard it made me feel comfortable that my skill was at least on par with my contemporaries and I could improve from there.
The second and maybe the more important reason, was that I was going to teach point-of-care ultrasound to my Paramedic students and to other healthcare professionals and I felt that by having legitimate POCUS certifications, I would be more credible to my students. I also felt that I should understand the POCUS Certification Academy’s testing and educational level because many of my students, after training, would want to go on and receive these certification as well. This allowed me to better prepare them for the pocus.org assessment.
I found the POCUS Certification Academy certification process very straightforward and convenient. The materials are well developed and the online site allowed me to review case presentations with excellent videos and images. I could easily switch between my Windows laptop and iPad with no difficulty. Even though I was being assessed, it was enjoyable and fun to participate in these “cases”.
Q: Why did you pursue POCUS certification and how did you find the process to be?
POCUS certification is a practical way to refresh your skills in busy clinical practice. The content was well crafted and provided a new and innovative way to show competency and up-to-date POCUS skills.
Q: Share a positive message or quote with the community.
My advice to every practitioner and clinician who’s ever performed physical exam techniques:
Understand that the sensitivity and specificity of physical exam is woefully inadequate and we owe it to our patients to refine and improve our skills. This tool, with appropriate training and use, can dramatically improve assessment accuracy, save time, money and provide wonderful patient education and satisfaction.
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