ROCKVILLE, Md., May 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Inteleos™, a global non-profit healthcare certification organization, and the International Contrast Ultrasound Society (ICUS) today announced a partnership to develop an ecosystem for contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). The collaboration, outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding, will explore opportunities for building knowledge, skills and abilities around CEUS for healthcare professionals including physicians, sonographers, medical residents, fellows, nurses, technicians and other healthcare professionals.
While the role of sonographers in CEUS procedures recently expanded under the newly published Scope of Practice and Clinical Standards for the Diagnostic Medical Sonographer, there currently are no standardized education, training or assessment tools to help sonographers and other medical professionals develop CEUS skills. The Inteleos-ICUS partnership aims to fill that gap.
"This initiative supports our mission to deliver rigorous training and assessments, across multiple specialties for professionals dedicated to improving global patient care," said Luciana Young, MD, Chair of the Inteleos Board of Directors. "By creating an ecosystem with ICUS and other partners, we can define and uphold CEUS standards through education, training, validation and implementation resources."
The initial scope of the partnership will focus on creating CEUS education, training and assessment for sonographers, nurses and other professionals in the North American market, with plans to expand globally. Current objectives include exploring opportunities through a cross-organizational taskforce and ultimately developing a full CEUS program.
“CEUS is an essential tool for modern ultrasound labs, and we are excited to partner with Inteleos in order to significantly scale up our current CEUS training programs.” said Dr. Stephanie Wilson, Co-President of ICUS, who is a clinical professor of radiology and gastroenterology at the University of Calgary. “This collaboration will provide sonographers and other health care professionals with more opportunities to develop CEUS skills and offer state of the art ultrasound services that improve patient care and enhance careers,” she added.
Contrast-enhanced ultrasound is a safe, reliable and low-cost diagnostic imaging tool that does not expose patients or staff to ionizing radiation and presents no known risk of kidney damage. With CEUS, micro-bubble contrast agents are injected into the body to allow for better visualization and characterization of blood flow and perfusion.
ICUS is a nonprofit global medical society dedicated to expansion of CEUS utilization to improve patient care. ICUS offers free CME-accredited CEUS webinars, newsletters and other resources on its website: www.ICUS-Society.org.
About Inteleos
Inteleos™ is a non-profit organization that fuels the global health community to ensure access to quality care. Inteleos is the overarching governance and management organization for the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography® (ARDMS®) the Alliance for Physician Certification & Advancement™ (APCA™) and the Point-of-Care Ultrasound Certification Academy™ (PCA) which together represents more than 141,000 certified medical professionals throughout the world. The Inteleos Foundation represents the philanthropic efforts for the organization.
About ICUS
The International Contrast Ultrasound Society (ICUS) is a nonprofit medical society dedicated to advancing the safe and medically appropriate use of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to improve patient care globally. Membership in ICUS is available free of charge and there is no fee for ICUS CME-accredited educational programs, newsletters, or other resources.
To join ICUS and learn more about CEUS, download ICUS Connect and visit the ICUS website.
