Ultrasound Training Helps Student Make Lifesaving Catch
Fourth-year medical student Campbell Veasey is giving credit to the ultrasound training he received at Wake Forest University School of Medicine for helping save a patient’s life.
Veasey, a member of the MD Class of 2024, was completing a month-long away rotation in emergency medicine at a hospital in California during 2023. As he was leaving after a late shift one night, he noticed a patient in mild distress who was waiting to be placed in a room.
Veasey chatted briefly with the man and learned he had been diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg and he had been unable to pick up his blood thinners to treat the clot. Veasey knew the potential danger a clot poses to the heart or lungs. He also knew that a quick ultrasound check at the bedside could help find any potential problem.
“Wake Forest had given me a toolkit,” Veasey said. “I had just finished a month-long block of ultrasound training where our director, Dr. (Joshua) Zavitz, had told us, ‘You need to practice this until it’s boring.’”
Zavitz is one of the ultrasound course leaders along with fellow faculty members Aarti Sarwal, MD, Casey Glass, MD, House Staff ’07, and Casey Bryant, MD. Armed with their training, Veasey rushed to grab an ultrasound probe, placed it on the man’s chest and saw the problem.
“Having done dozens of these, I saw something pretty scary,” said Veasey. He identified significant pressure building in the right side of the man’s heart, and he quickly notified a resident to get the man to a CT scanner for immediate evaluation. The resulting scan showed multiple clots in the man’s lungs, and he was directed to the care he needed.
Veasey checked on the man the next day and found him to be doing well.
“That was cool,” Veasey said. “I owe that almost entirely to Wake Forest and how they train us in ultrasound from day one.”
Campbell is a recipient of the Robert R. Perz Memorial Scholarship established by the MD Class of 1984. This scholarship is based on the personal qualities like those of Dr. Perz — the zestful pursuit of excellence and the dogged discipline required to successfully balance the physician’s life inside and outside of medicine.
