EFSUMB Newsletter Meets Poland

Population:
Over 38,500,000
Area: 312,685 Km²
Capital: Warsaw
EFSUMB members: 349

Interview with Professor Wieslaw Jakubowski (President of PTU and Delegate to EFSUMB) and Professor Andrzej Nowicki (Past President of the Polish Ultrasonic Society) by Professor Michael Bachmann Nielsen in June 2011.

Professor Wiesław Jakubowski, M.D., Ph.D., President of PTU and Delegate to EFSUMB.

Professor Andrzej Nowicki, Past President of the Polish Ultrasonic Society.

The Beginnings

Professor Jakubowski: "In 1981 the first compound scanner Picker was purchased to the Central Clinic Hospital in Warsaw and I was the first to start using it. After initial experiments I and some other enthusiasts created a group of users of US imaging and in 1983 we have established the Ultrasound Section of the Polish Radiological Society. After 3 years of the activity of the Section the number of their members was so large that we decided to start in 1990 a new organization – Polish Ultrasonic Society PUS (in polish: Polskie Towarzystwo Ultrasonograficzne PTU)". PUS is a group of physicians of twenty different medical specializations and is dedicated to scientific, didactic and organization activity.

The Newsletter

PUS issues newsletters twice a year; in spring and in the fall. The Society is regularly publishing books on US (since 1990 – 18 titles), quarterly Journal Ultrasonografia (in polish). Every third year the special book, to the Standards in Ultrasonography (in polish) is published. In July 2011 we will issue the fourth edition of Standards.

Courses & US Training

The Polish Society is providing continuous education organizing courses on three levels: basic ultrasound physics, basic general ultrasound and post-graduate ultrasound for different US specialisations.

The PUS provide or supervise different kind of courses. The "main stream" teaching is provided in weekly courses organized by Ultrasonic School Roztocze-Zamosc (Roztoczanska Szkola Ultrasonografii -Zamosc).

There are different levels of the courses: basic on general US – five days long; five days long discipline – heart, Doppler, gastroenterology, musculoskeletal, superficial organs (breast, thyroid), lungs, laryngology, obstetrics, gynaecology, general practice medicine and more – oriented courses with extensive practical exercise on patients ; one day of physics and instrumentation; 2.5 days long advanced course and meet the professor classes.

Each physician has to pass an exam before being certified to do ultrasound – the exam goes in two parts, theoretical –about 70 multiple choice questions – and practical examination is carried on in Ultrasonic School Roztocze-Zamosc.

Our Society includes only doctors – both radiologists and clinicians and research scientists. We have no sonographers performing US examinations.

The National Congress in Poland

The national conference is held every second year. The previous one was in Cracow in June 2010 and the next will be in Olsztyn in May, 2012.

The last, 10th Congress in Cracow was the jubilee one. It had a substantial attendance of about 1000 participants. Twelve Scientific Sessions covered all the important disciplines with 22 invited speakers. There were also 8 post graduate courses and 6 sessions organized by manufactures of the US equipment.

Website

We do have a website http://www.usgptu.waw.pl, however, no educational material is included in our pages. We have, however, access to the articles published in our quarterly journal "Ultrasonografia".

Ultrasound in Poland Today

Actually we have 1400 active members of PUS while an estimated number of physicians performing US imaging exceeds 8000. In Poland we have about 87,000 active medical doctors. We are very satisfied from the past cooperation with EFSUMB and hope to keep it this way in the future.