Shadowing Practice: FAST Scan (Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma) - STEP by STEP - Learn English Speaking with Video

So now we're going to go over how to perform the FAST scan.

And this is a scan that's used in trauma.

It's called a focus assessment using sonography for trauma or in trauma.

You're basically looking for free fluid in the abdomen, around the heart, in the chest, as well as looking for nemothorax of the chest.

So we're just going to go over the protocol that I used.

So here we're going to use the phased array probe.

The patient is going to be in a supine position because it's in a trauma setting, so they're usually lying flat.

You're going to put the probe, you're going to assess the right upper quadrant, the left upper quadrant, the pelvis, and then you're going to assess the heart,

and then the lungs, and we'll go over through it in that order.

So the first scan is the right upper quadrant scan.

So here is the right upper quadrant scan.

Indicators up towards the head.

It's around the 8th to 10th intercostal space in the mid axillary line.

And you're looking for Morrison's pouch, the space between the liver and the kidney for free fluid.

Make sure, in addition, you look towards the edge of the liver because sometimes fluid can track there also.

The next scan you're going to do is the left upper quadrant scan.

So this is knuckles to the bed looking for fluid around the spleen.

And here we see the spleen.

and the fluid doesn't track between the spleen and the kidney usually unless there's rupture of the splenorenal ligament.

In addition to looking at fluid around the spleen, you want to look above the diaphragm looking for any fluid in the chest,

and here you see a good mirror artifact sign.

There's no fluid there.

That's completely normal, and remember to also do this on the right upper quadrant looking for fluid in the right chest.

The next portion is going to be the pelvic scan here you're looking for free fluid above the bladder

so indicator is up towards the head

and you see the bladder here there's no free fluid above

the bladder another organ to identify is a prostate in this view

and free fluid once again it is above the prostate

and above the bladder the next view is going to be the cardiac view looking for pericardial effusion

and there's two views you can use.

You can use either the subxiphoid view, and since this is on the standard mode, the indicator is going to be towards the patient's right side,

and you're going to identify the liver and sweep in and look for that heart.

And here we see the heart, the four chambers of the heart, and when the patient takes a big breath in, brings it closer, you get a better view,

that subxiphoid view, looking for pericardial effusion around the right ventricle or left ventricle, and looking for any collapse of these ventricles,

signifying tamponade, specifically right ventricular diastolic collapse or right atrial systolic collapse.

Another view you can use, if you can't get a good sub -xiphoid view, is a pericardial long axis view.

And once again, since we're in standard mode, the indicator is going to be towards the patient's left hip.

So here, you're going to get a pericardial long axis view.

And the main thing you're looking for is pericardial effusion.

You don't have to necessarily assess all the heart function, but look for pericardial fusion and looking for tamponade here.

And this looks normal here.

You can see the pericardia both anteriorly and posteriorly in this view.

And the last portion that you do is looking for pneumothorax, and that's looking for lung sliding.

So once again, the indicator is going to be towards the patient's head, second intercostal space, midclavicular line.

where you would do a needle thoracostomy basically

and you would decrease your depth

so you see I'm decreasing my depth all the way down here

and here you're looking for lung sliding so when the patient breathes in

so if you can take a big breath in you see there's lung sliding on the screen there

and that indicates there's no pneumothorax if there is no lung sliding

that is highly suggestive of pneumothorax in the setting of trauma

you want to make sure you do there both the right side

and the left side looking for lung sliding and this patient has lung sliding on both the left and right side

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “FAST Scan (Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma) - STEP by STEP”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: fluid, view, scan, lung, pericardial. This video has 53 sentences and 755 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:20. The speaker talks at a natural 174 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
fluid noun	/ˈflu.ɪd/	Any substance which can flow with relative ease, tends to assume the shape of its container, and obeys Bernoulli's principle; a liquid, gas or plasma.
scan verb	/skæn/	To examine sequentially, carefully, or critically; to scrutinize; to behold closely.
lung noun	/ˈlʌŋ/	A biological organ of vertebrates that controls breathing and oxygenates the blood.
slide noun	/ˈslaɪ̯d/	An item of play equipment that children can climb up and then slide down again.
trauma noun	/ˈtɹɔm.ə/	Any injury to the body of a living thing.
indicator noun	/ˈɪn.dɪˌkeɪ.tə(ɹ)/	A pointer or index that indicates something.
bladder noun	/ˈblædɚ/	A flexible sac that can expand and contract and that holds liquids or gases.
breathe verb	/bɹiːð/	To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases.
collapse verb	/kəˈlæps/	To break apart and fall down suddenly; to cave in.
assess verb	/əˈsɛs/	To determine, estimate or judge the value of; to evaluate; to estimate.
decrease verb	/dɪˈkɹiːs/	Of a quantity, to become smaller.
kidney noun	/ˈkɪdni/	An organ in the body that filters the blood, producing urine.
axis noun	/ˈæksɪs/	An imaginary line around which an object spins (an axis of rotation) or is symmetrically arranged (an axis of symmetry).
probe noun	/pɹoʊb/	Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.
prostate noun	/ˈpɹɑs.teɪt/	The prostate gland.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
go over verb	To look at carefully; to scrutinize; to analyze.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 21 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, we're, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: breathe /bɹiːð/, pneumothorax /ˈnju.moʊˌθɔ.ɹæks/
Long words — get the stress right: indicator /ˈɪn.dɪˌkeɪ.tə(ɹ)/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, pneumothorax /ˈnju.moʊˌθɔ.ɹæks/, intercostal /ˌɪn.tɚˈkɔ.stəl/, axillary /ˈæksɪlɛɹi/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like fluid, scan, lung.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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