About

Dr. Ryan Paulus is a family medicine physician at the University of North Carolina (UNC), where he practices in a critical access hospital emergency department and as a hospitalist on a family medicine teaching service at a community hospital. He completed his residency training at UNC in Chapel Hill, NC, and then went on to complete a Rural Medicine Fellowship focused on POCUS and the UNC Faculty Development Fellowship, where he focused on refining his skills as a POCUS Educator. Dedicated to teaching, Dr. Paulus teaches POCUS to medical students at UNC, leads the UNC family medicine residency POCUS curriculum, and developed a rural medicine fellowship that has a strong emphasis on POCUS.

Nationally, Dr. Paulus serves as the Founder and Program Director of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) POCUS Certificate Program and spearheaded STFM Project FOCUS (Finding Consensus for POCUS Standards in Family Medicine Education and Competency-Based Assessment), a landmark initiative to establish consensus guidelines on POCUS competencies for family medicine residency training.

His research focuses on integrating POCUS into primary care and around POCUS education with an emphasis on finding the most effective way to teach POCUS.

He is passionate about building a sustainable POCUS learning network that enhances education, supports faculty development, and advances patient care in family medicine.

POCUS Teaching Experience:

• Locally at UNC with medical students and residents
• Statewide UNC Workshops
• STFM POCUS Certificate Program
  • Multiple hands-on workshops and virtual teaching

POCUS Publications:

Paulus R, Doughton J, Duffy M, et al. Validation of Family Medicine Point-of-Care Ultrasound Screening (POCUS) for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. J Am Board Fam Med. Published online February 16, 2026. doi:10.3122/jabfm.2025.250206R1

Paulus R, Adams M, Howard M, Hill M, Roten W. Is point-of-care ultrasound accurate in detecting fetal cardiac activity and intrauterine pregnancy? Evid-Based Pract. 2026;29(2):26-28. doi:10.1097/EBP.0000000000002544

Paulus R, Clements B, Capizzano N, Dalal P, Yedlinsky N, Trantham R, Williamson B, Shen-Wagner J, Songara V, Nguyen N, Patel H. Beyond the Stethoscope: Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) as the New Norm in Family Medicine. J Am Board Fam Med. 2025 Nov-Dec;38(6):962-966. doi: 10.3122/jabfm.2025.250090R2. PMID: 41593017.

Paulus R, Brusky L, Cathcart E, Brusky L, Patel H. The Roles and Responsibilities of a Family Medicine Point-of-Care Ultrasound Champion. Fam Med. 2025;57(9):687-687. https://doi.org/10.22454/FamMed.2025.328511.

Paulus R, Durham J, Jeyaraju M, Roten W. Is point-of-care lung ultrasound superior to chest x-ray for the detection of cardiogenic pulmonary edema? Evid Based Pract.. 2025;():. doi:10.1097/EBP.0000000000002496

Roten W, Durham J, Paulus R. How effective is point-of-care ultrasound in diagnosing pneumonia in adult patients? Evid Based Pract. 2025;28(5):12-13. doi:10.1097/EBP.0000000000002353

Roten W, Hampe M, Paulus R. Is point-of-care ultrasound accurate in diagnosing a skin and soft-tissue abscess? Evid Based Pract. 2025;28(5):23-24. doi:10.1097/EBP.0000000000002337

Roten W, Hollowell A, Duffy M, Paulus R. Is point-of-care ultrasound accurate in screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm? Evid Based Pract. 2025;28(5):35-36. doi:10.1097/EBP.0000000000002356

Paulus R, Patel H, Nguyen N. Components of a Residency POCUS Curriculum. Fam Med. 2025;57(4):318-. https://doi.org/10.22454/FamMed.2024.651571.