The Area of Focused Competence (AFC) in Acute Care Ultrasound Fellowship is a one year training program to train the future leaders of Emergency Medicine ultrasonography.

Program faculty

Dr. Brandon Ritcey completed his medical degree (2011), ultrasound fellowship (2015), and emergency medicine residency (2016) at the University of Ottawa, which is a testament to the wonderful city, hospital, faculty, and training available here. He served as the Assistant POCUS Fellowship Director for 4 years before taking over as the Director of the newly accredited AFC in Acute Care POCUS in 2021. 

Dr. Ritcey currently works as an emergency physician and is an Assistant Professor at The University of Ottawa. Dr. Ritcey has a deep passion and interest in POCUS education and how we can use POCUS across the medical system to improve patient care.  

Brandon Ritcey
Dr. Brandon Ritcey, AFC Program Director

Program resources

The Department of Emergency Medicine has three different types of ultrasound machines in each of the General Campus and Civic Campus emergency departments.

Through the University of Ottawa Skills and Simulation Centre (uOSSC) fellows have access to advanced ultrasound simulation technology including a VimidexTM and ScanTrainerTM simulator to augment their learning, particularly in transvaginal ultrasound and transesophageal echo. 

All of our ultrasound machines have digital image archiving capacity to QPathE and PACS. All cart based machines have a full selection of advanced cardiac packages, Doppler, and echocardiography calculators.

Sonosite X-Porte
There is are 1-2 Sonosite XPorte ultrasound machines with curvilinear, linear, and phased array transducers at each site.
Sparq Ultrasound
There are two Phillips Sparq ultrasound machines with curvilinear, linear, phased array, and transesophageal echocardiography transducers at each site.
Lumify Handheld
There is one Phillips Lumify handheld ultrasound probe at each campus with phased array and linear transducers, as well as one additional unit reserved for ultrasound fellows to use exclusively for education and practice.