Ultrasound: Essential Life-Saving Skills

Maternal health is a major public health issue. Healthcare professionals: here is an essential MOOC to help you acquire or consolidate your knowledge of ultrasound techniques and improve pregnancy monitoring.

The miniaturised technology of modern ultrasound scanners, combined with their increasingly affordable price, has made them more widely available and has significantly improved pregnancy monitoring, regardless of where you work—even in the most medically under-resourced areas of the world.
The Introduction to Obstetric and Gynaecological ultrasound course developed by Université Paris Cité provides valuable practical guidance for performing prenatal ultrasound examinations in optimal conditions.

The aim of this course is to describe and explain in detail the essential technical procedures involved in ultrasound examinations, such as:

How to set up and use the ultrasound probe

The orientation of the abdominal probe is the first key point to consider during an ultrasound examination. You will also learn how to move the probe, how to interpret the ultrasound image displayed on the screen using the grey scale, and why gel or oil should be applied between the probe and the patient’s abdomen.

How to obtain an overview of the pregnancy

By performing a single scan from bottom to top, you can identify the five essential elements of an ultrasound examination: fetal position, number of fetuses, cardiac activity, placental location, and the amount of amniotic fluid.

How to optimise your examination by adjusting the ultrasound machine settings

Even the simplest machines allow you to modify certain settings—such as ultrasound frequency—in order to optimise the image and the obstetric examination. You will learn how to adjust the depth, how to zoom in, and how to use gain (image brightness).

Thanks to this MOOC, healthcare professionals can benefit from expert advice and video demonstrations from specialists at the Port-Royal maternity hospital.

This MOOC focuses on five fundamental skills—recognising multiple pregnancies, confirming fetal vitality, locating the placenta, assessing the amount of amniotic fluid, and determining fetal presentation—and represents the first step in a progressive learning process leading to recognised expertise.

Don’t wait to acquire or strengthen your skills in obstetric ultrasound practice.

To register and find out more, click here.

Université Paris Cité

Course start date: 1st April 2026
Registration open from: 1st March 2026