The 18 Best Online Ultrasound Course Providers (2024)

Top Free and Paid Resources for Clinicians

Finding the best online ultrasound course provider can be time-consuming, so we’ve done the research for you! In this article, we break down the top 18 #FOAMed and paid options. You’ll find out about particularly unique features that could be the deciding factor for you, plus the pros and cons of each one, so you can choose the best fit for your professional development needs.

Ultrasound course provider selection criteria

The online ultrasound course providers on this list had to meet the following criteria:

• English language
• Easily accessible online, without the need for a formal application process
• Multiple structured training programs that provide learners with a defined learning path
  • Resources that were a collection of references, examples and/or practice cases were not included
• Provides a breadth of learning from basic to advanced applicable to the majority of healthcare providers such as nurses, paramedics, EMT, PA, and physicians
• Full course details and pricing need to be clearly provided without paying for an initial membership

Additionally, to be included in this list the ultrasound course provider needed to be easily discoverable within Google search results. Providers that prevent access to UK and European Union residents were excluded (e.g., Healio).

None of the free options found met the above criteria. But at the end of this article there’s a list of helpful #FOAMed resources that could be a great supplement for your learning.

Last, but not least, because ultrasound encompasses many important subtopics (e.g., musculoskeletal ultrasound, point-of-care ultrasound, ultrasound-guided procedures, etc.), we focused on overall qualities of individual course providers (e.g., number/type of courses offered, quality of their courses, etc.), rather than singling out one individual course as “the best” online ultrasound course.

Top 10 Paid Resources – Online Ultrasound Course Providers

1. Medmastery

Medmastery is #1 on the list of best online ultrasound course providers for many reasons, including value for your money. Their courses have won multiple awards, and they’re highly commended by the British Medical Association. They have a great track record in terms of user reviews, with over 425 reviews on Trustpilot (they’re rated “excellent”, with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars). They’ve taught over 300,000 clinicians, and are used by universities and residency programs around the world. Additionally, their courses are CME-accredited in both the USA (ACCME) and the European Union (UEMS), with mutual recognition agreements in most other countries.

Their lessons are quick (usually under 6 minutes), so are easy to squeeze into a busy schedule. They cut out the fluff, focusing on practical skills for clinical practice.

With 24 online ultrasound courses and case-based workshops, each of which can provide 1–7 CME credits, they offer a total of…

• 79 ultrasound AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™
• 781 ultrasound lessons (video format)
• 45 ultrasound cases (video format)
• Over 2000 pages of printable, illustrated ultrasound handbooks to accompany their courses (useful as a reference in the clinic, or as study material)

They designed their courses to focus on the most important clinical skills you need to know, specifically, the 20% of skills that “will allow you to solve over 80%, and maybe closer to 90%, of patient problems” that you encounter. Individual lessons within their courses are quick to consume, which is great if you find yourself too busy to fit long learning sessions into your schedule.

Medmastery’s courses and workshops cover a broad range of ultrasound topics:

• Abdominal ultrasound
• Echocardiography
• Musculoskeletal ultrasound
• Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS)
• Ultrasound-guided nerve blocks
• And more!

Membership includes all of their ultrasound training as well as over 100 additional courses covering 17+ clinical specialties.

Grab a free trial membership to check out their ultrasound courses and get the first chapter of every course for free. Or, unlock all of their courses with a Pro account (includes CME credits) or a Basic account.

2. 123sonography

This provider focuses solely on ultrasound training, so if you need continuing education on other topics as well, you’ll have to look elsewhere to fill those gaps. They’re an award-winning provider that’s taught over 400,000 students since their inaugural course launch in 2010. On Trustpilot they have 197 reviews with an average rating of 4.7.

123Sonography offers over 240 ultrasound AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ spread across 28 ultrasound courses. Examples of the types of topics they cover include echocardiography, critical care and POCUS, musculoskeletal ultrasound, abdominal ultrasound, and more!

Rather than pay one price for access to all of their courses, you pay for each course individually. Here are some examples of the costs you’d be looking at (pricing listed below is for 4 months of access, and is divided into 4 monthly payments):

• Abdominal Ultrasound BachelorClass, 10 CME credits, pricing starts at 596 USD
• MSK Ultrasound Guided Injections MasterClass, 4.75 CME, pricing starts at 596 USD
• Vascular Lower Extremity BachelorClass, 9.5 CME, pricing starts at 596 USD
• ​​POCUS Focus Class, 6 CME credits, pricing starts at 640 USD

3. Gulf Coast Ultrasound Institute

The Gulf Coast Ultrasound Institute focuses solely on ultrasound training.

Their courses cover the following ultrasound topics: abdominal / primary care ultrasound, adult echocardiography, anesthesiology ultrasound, emergency medicine / critical care ultrasound, musculoskeletal ultrasound, paediatric ultrasound, point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), vascular ultrasound, and women’s health ultrasound. They also provide an assortment of courses for ultrasound registry review, although some of them don’t provide AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™.

They’ve got almost 50 in-depth online ultrasound courses that provide a total of 556.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. On average, these longer courses require more of a time commitment to complete, but if you’re able to work that into your schedule, that could be a good thing if you want a particularly deep dive into certain topics.

Those courses aren’t a low-budget option. Rather than pay one price for access to all of these courses, you pay for each course individually. Here are some examples of the kinds of prices you’d be looking at:

• Abdominal and Primary Care Ultrasound, 18 CME credits, 965 USD
• Ultrasound Guided Nerve Blocks for Emergency Medicine, 7.5 CME credits, 575 USD
• Venous Case Studies (29 cases), 5 CME credits, 380 USD
• Introduction to Musculoskeletal Ultrasound: Lower Extremities, 7.5 CME credits, 540 USD
• ​​POCUS for Family Medicine, 18.75 CME credits, 920 USD

Depending on your needs, you may find that some of their CME Vitals courses will do the trick. These are usually less time-consuming than the courses discussed above, with most of them providing 1 CME and priced at 25 USD. However, they also offer a few more lengthy courses in this category, such as the 10-CME General Ultrasound Series, priced at 150 USD apiece. Lastly, they also offer a CME Vitals Access Pass: 199.95 USD gets you a year’s access to 90 of their ‘CME Vitals’, which provide a total of 92 ultrasound CME credits.

Their website says they’ve trained over 180,000 people. They don’t have any reviews on Trustpilot, but they do have over 49 Google reviews with a rating of 5/5 stars.

4. Core Ultrasound

Core Ultrasound has been used by prominent U.S. institutions such as the Mayo Clinic and Stanford, so it’ll come as no surprise that they’re one of the best online ultrasound course providers. Their accredited content seems to be geared mainly towards students, residents, and faculty. However, they also have some non-accredited content specifically geared towards advanced users, such as their Critical Care Ultrasound course and their Sound and Surf 2022 video series.

They have a total of 8 training courses, plus a 3200-question ultrasound pathology Core Q-Bank (which is accredited for up to 82 AMA PRA Category 1 CME™ credits). Their 18-CME Fundamentals course is intended for anyone who’s new to the clinical use of bedside ultrasound. Their remaining courses do not provide CME, but include the following:

• 30+ hours of additional training on topics like bedside and critical care ultrasound
• 4 hours of training on how to manage an ultrasound education program
• 5 hours of training on how to create medical education content
• A 4-year curriculum for medical, PA, and NP students that uses bedside ultrasound to teach anatomy and pathology

5. Sonosim

Sonosim is interesting because in addition to their online courses, they also provide a SonoSimulator® Probe that allows you to practise at home. Given the limitations of practising on a smallish pad-like surface, it’s not going to be exactly like practising on a person. However, it could be a useful part of the learning process. Sonosim says they’ve been used as part of an ultrasound training program at institutions such as Yale University Health, Seattle University, and many others.

They provide over 80 ultrasound courses, all of which are eligible for AMA PRA Category 1™ credits. Courses cover topics such as anatomy and physiology, beginner and advanced clinical ultrasound, and ultrasound-guided procedures.

6. The Institute for Advanced Medical Education

The Institute for Advanced Medical Education (IAME) provides sonography courses for physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, sonographers, and more. All of IAME’s ultrasound CME courses are eligible for AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™.

They provide over 200 ultrasound CME credits that are spread across more than 150 courses. Topics covered include abdominal, ergonomics, head and neck, musculoskeletal, OB/GYN, and vascular ultrasound. They also have a course on the physics of ultrasound.

7. Aeyr

Aeyr focuses exclusively on point-of-care ultrasound, and has 5 online ultrasound courses to choose from, which can provide a total of up to 58 AMA PRA Category 1 CME™ credits. Their Introduction to Ultrasound Basics course (3 CME) is completely free. That course is considered a prerequisite for their more specialised courses: POCUS Essentials (20 CME), OBGYN Essentials (9 CME), MSK Essentials (20 CME), and Virtual Instructor Training (2–3 CME).

A relatively unique feature of their courses is that they provide the option for learners to connect with their instructors. For example, they host free weekly 30-minute virtual meetings with course instructors to provide learners with an opportunity to ask questions. Also, every course also includes virtual live labs and peer-to-peer mentorship.

8. Radiologic Society of North America

They offer a combination of video-based and journal-based continuing education on a variety of ultrasound topics (in addition to other radiology topics). Examples of topics covered include ultrasound for female pelvic disease, fatty liver disease, renal transplant complications, and more.

Generally speaking, their online CME is best suited for clinicians who already have a solid base level of knowledge on how to use ultrasound, but want to expand their knowledge into more specialised topics.

9. Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine

The Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (ASUM) is a multidisciplinary organisation that focuses their attention on diagnostic ultrasound. In addition to their in-person events, they also provide online training in the form of webinars and the occasional virtual conference. Here are a few examples of topics they’ve covered in their webinars (1 CPD point per webinar):

• Delivering Unexpected News in Obstetrics
• ​​Improving the Basic Scan with Sagittal View
• How Not to Miss Foetal Cardiac Lesions

Webinars are only available for a limited time and topics are always changing. You can check their website for a listing of their current offerings.

10. Sonoskills

Sonoskills was established in 2010 and currently trains over 2500 people per year. Their online courses focus exclusively on musculoskeletal ultrasound, and appear to be geared primarily towards sonographers (however, Sonoskills still looks like it would be helpful for any clinician who needs to learn about musculoskeletal ultrasound in depth). They do not provide AMA PRA Category 1 CME™ credits.

They offer a wide variety of online courses, including deep dives for beginners, such as their Foundations of MSK Ultrasound course (20 CME). But they also have shorter courses such as Managing Tendinopathy: The Use of Ultrasound (1.5 CME).

Final Verdict

When compiling a list of the best online ultrasound course providers, there were many options and unfortunately some tough choices needed to be made in terms of which ones made the list. However, all of the options that did make it onto this list would be a solid choice.

For most clinicians, we think Medmastery offers the best value for your money.

• They have a low starting price point, which gives you access to all 120+ of their courses (24 of which are ultrasound-focused).
• Because their video lessons are all accompanied by text-based printable course handbooks, their training is well-suited to a variety of learning styles.
• The fact that their courses are divided into bite-sized chunks, that you can literally squeeze into a coffee break, makes them particularly attractive if your typical day suffers from a shortage of free time.

Of course, if you need training on a very specific aspect of ultrasound that only one provider on this list offers, that could make your decision for you. 123Sonography’s starting price point is higher than Medmastery, but they have some robust training options, as does GulfCoast Ultrasound and others on our list. If you’re a student, Core Ultrasound’s extensive question bank (Core Q-Bank) combined with their in-depth Fundamentals course make it a great choice.

If you already have a good handle on how to perform ultrasound, but mainly need to keep up with the new developments and research in the ultrasound field, then you’ll likely find much of what you need through sources like the Radiologic Society of North America and similar organisations.

Free FOAMed Resources – Online Ultrasound Course Providers

Although we didn’t find any free ultrasound training providers that met 100% of our inclusion criteria, we wanted to ensure you still have some FOAMed resources to get you started. Here are some options:

1. LITFL ultrasound resources

Dive into the ultrasound library, top 100 ultrasound cases, or, 5 FOAMus Ultrasound resources!

2. Aeyr’s Ultrasound Basics course

Although their other courses start at 210 USD and up, you can get started for free with Ultrasound Basics.

3. Sonoskills musculoskeletal ultrasound webinar series

They provide 60 days of free access to 13.5 hours of musculoskeletal ultrasound lectures. Aside from that, their lowest-priced on-demand course is €80.

4. Applied Radiology

They offer journal-article-based continuing education on a wide variety of radiology topics, including ultrasound.

5. Indiana University – Ultrasound B-Mode Artifacts

They offer a 1-hour lecture for free. All you have to do to access it is create a guest account.

6. International Contrast Ultrasound Society – cases and webinars

At the time of this writing, they had several cases available relating to liver lesions (5 cases) and a renal mass (1 case). They also have several free webinar replays.

7. Pegasus Lectures – Technological Advancements in Ultrasound

This free 1-hour lecture goes over some of the newest ultrasound technologies and how they’re impacting the field.

8. Ultrasound Town – Epididymitis

This is a 135-slide presentation consisting of ultrasound images and text that you can go through at your own pace.