UCO signs partnership agreement with SMUG
The University College of Osteopathy (UCO) Clinic has been working with the Sports Medicine Ultrasound Group (SMUG) on setting up a diagnostic musculoskeletal (MSK) ultrasound teaching clinic at the UCO.
1 April 2019
SMUG is the leading provider of musculoskeletal ultrasound courses in the UK, delivering MSK sonography training for complete beginners as well as more advanced and experienced practitioners. SMUG has partners in many countries around the world and run courses on an annual basis, looking to raise the standards in musculoskeletal ultrasound.
The aim of the partnership between the UCO and SMUG is to provide students with the opportunity to develop their skills under tuition from experts in the field, with real patients, at the new, specialist ultrasound teaching clinic at the UCO.
The partnership will also provide UCO patients with the opportunity to access musculoskeletal ultrasound services at affordable prices. Chris Myers, a Chartered Physiotherapist, Registered Osteopath & MSK Sonographer, and also Co-Founder of SMUG will be providing supervision alongside Robert Laus, a highly specialised MSK Physiotherapist, MSK Sonographer and Co-Founder of SMUG.
Francesca Wiggins, Head of Clinical Practice, said: “This is a very exciting collaboration that we’re launching today. As part of this, the UCO is able to provide a place on the Mentorship in Musculoskeletal Ultrasound course for a UCO staff member. We were particularly keen to support someone who is currently involved in clinical teaching and I am very pleased to say that we have awarded Francesco Contiero a place on the course.”
Francesco, who is a Neuroscience and Neurology Lecturer & Clinic Tutor at the UCO, said: “It's a fantastic opportunity to have a new ultrasound diagnostic clinic here at the UCO, as the first actual clinic in London. I'm very happy that I was given the opportunity to participate in this, to learn new skills and to bring this to the UCO.”
Patients will be referred to the diagnostic ultrasound clinic at the UCO by their student/qualified osteopaths for a scan in order to gather more information about their current complaint and to help determine the best treatment for them.
Appointments will last approximately half an hour and the scan will be carried out by SMUG students, all of whom are qualified health care professionals. SMUG students are undertaking the mentorship programme in diagnostic ultrasound, under the supervision of a highly experienced SMUG tutor. Patients will need to book a further appointment with their student osteopath to receive the results of their scan and discuss how the scan results effect their treatment and management, and what the options are at this stage.
The standard appointment fee at the diagnostic ultrasound clinic will be £45, for community partners £35, and the concessionary rate £20.
Charles Hunt, Vice-Chancellor of UCO said: “This is a really exciting opportunity for both our patients to now receive lower cost ultrasound diagnosis to aid their treatment, and also for our students to get involved with multidisciplinary work and engage with a wide range of other healthcare practitioners.”
As the use of diagnostic ultrasound is growing rapidly and is an exciting area of musculoskeletal medicine, the UCO also offers an introduction to diagnostic ultrasound CPD course for osteopaths and other health care professionals.
The Introduction to Diagnostic Ultrasound in Musculoskeletal and Sports Medicine course will be running on 10 May this year, and will be led by Chris Myers. The course is suitable for physiotherapists, sports doctors, orthopaedic surgeons, sonographers, GP's, osteopaths, chiropractors, rheumatologists and radiologists from the UK and all over the world; and is accredited by The British Medical Ultrasound Society (BMUS), Faculty of Sports & Exercise Medicine (FSEM), Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), European Society of Musculoskeletal Radiology (ESSR) and the College of Radiographers.
Find out more about the UCO's Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Clinic at www.clinic.uco.ac.uk/musculoskeletal-ultrasound; and read more about SMUG and MSK Ultrasound training at www.ultrasoundtraining.co.uk.
Book your place now on the Introduction to Diagnostic Ultrasound in Musculoskeletal and Sports Medicine CPD course.