The Growth of Portable Ultrasound in Primary Care
In the last decade there has been a widespread adoption of portable ultrasound in point of care (POCUS) for primary care.Its potential for timely assessment and rapid diagnosis continues to attract family doctors, and more and more are getting the necessary training to offer this enhanced service to their local communities. Dr. Pere Guirado, a family doctor based in Catalonia (Spain), has always been an advocate for the use of POCUS in primary care, and describes his goal of becoming common in the country."After working for many years in medicine and exercising directive functions…
Keeping Players on the Field with the Aid of Ultrasound
Professional sportsmen and women rely on rapid, accurate assessment and treatment of injuries to allow them to regain match fitness and return to the field at the earliest opportunity.At Harlequin FC rugby club, point-of-care ultrasound complements physical examination as an aid to diagnosis, as team doctor Courtney Kipps explained. Harlequins is an English Premiership rugby union team based in Twickenham. The club’s medical team needs to ensure that the pool of players available for selection on match days is as large as possible. This not only involves maintaining the current health and…
20 Years of Sonosite: Bringing Ultrasound to the Forefront of Global Health
According to the World Health Organisation, much of the world’s population has no access to ultrasound imaging. From the jungles of Panama to the mountains of Nepal, the clinicians that are a part of our Global Health Programme and help bring ultrasound to the point of patient care are our greatest source of inspiration. As we celebrate 20 years of Sonosite ultrasound this year we're taking a look back at some of the most critical and complex global health cases from the past two decades. Fulfiling a Promise To Iraq with Point-of-Care UltrasoundMosul, Iraq’s second largest city…
Sonosite and Bridge To Health: POCUS Training in Uganda
To celebrate 20 years of helping clinicians bring ultrasound to the point of care, Sonosite partnered with Canadian NGO Bridge To Health and Uganda's Kigezi Healthcare Foundation (KIHEFO) to help them train Ugandan medical officers on how to diagnose paediatric pneumonia and scan breast masses to rule out cancer.As Bridge To Health's Founder and Chair Dr. William Cherniak puts it, "Bridge To Health's principle is partnership. That's what makes us so different than other global health programmes. "With that philosophy of partnership in mind, Bridge to Health worked with Sonosite's Global…
Sharing a Point-of-Care Ultrasound System
Dr Mandy Masters purchased a Sonosite iViz in 2018 while attending a Rural Hospital Conference trade show where Sonosite was exhibiting. Intrigued by this new compact ultrasound device, her husband, Dr Jonathan Masters, began to borrow the iViz for his own clinical work at a private practice.
They now have a weekly iViz ‘sharing’ system in place.
We asked both doctors how they use point-of-care ultrasound in their respective jobs.
What kind of medicine do you practice?
Dr Mandy Masters: I work as a Rural Hospital Specialist on New Zealand’s North Island. I previously worked…
Teaching USGRA in Papua New Guinea
An advocate for the expansion of the use of point-of-care ultrasound, Dr. Yasmin Endlich is an anaesthesiologist who practises medicine in Australia and regularly travels to Papua New Guinea to provide medical training to local physicians. Here, she explains why nerve blocks are a crucial tool in a rural anaesthetist’s arsenal:Papua New Guinea, a country of over 8 million people, is looked after by less than 30 anaesthetists, half of whom are still in training. Not coincidentally, I have actually met every anaesthetist in Papua New Guinea.This year, the 54th Medical Symposium was held in…
Doctors Without Borders: Using Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Sudan
Dr. Achai Bulabek is a clinical officer with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). At age 28, she is currently serving a region between Sudan and South Sudan (her native country). Her hospital recently adopted a point-of-care ultrasound system (POCUS) that is now frequently used to diagnose patient trauma and guide needle-based procedures such as paracentesis and thoracentesis.In a blogpost on the MSF website, Dr. Bulabek describes several cases in which the use of POCUS helped diagnose and treat patients quickly and effectively."Since we started using the new ultrasound, something has changed…
Point-Of-Care Ultrasound Helps Make Regional Anaesthesia Quicker And Safer
Ultrasound-guidance has proven invaluable for the regional neurosurgical centre at the Salford Royal Hospital outside Manchester, England. In addition to helping to improve patient safety, ultrasound is increasingly being used to guide regional anaesthesia, offering a variety of benefits.Jim Corcoran, consultant neuroanaesthetist and clinical director for perioperative care at the Salford Royal, says that ultrasound-guidance also allows anaesthetists to reduce the amount of anaesthetic required to effectively block a nerve region (10-20 ml versus 30-40 ml using landmark/nerve stimulation…
Harvard Study Finds Significant Cost Savings with POCUS Use
According to a study conducted by Harvard researchers, emergency physicians in community-hospital settings that chose to use diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in patient care saved patients, insurance companies, and hospitals significant sums of money, even if the results of an ultrasound did not alter a care path.Published online Dec. 28 in the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, the 3-month study involved ER physicians at 213-bed Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts.The team used data from Medicare fee Schedules published by the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid…
POCUS Profile: Dr. Fidel Fernandez
Ultrasound is a vital tool for vascular surgeons in the 21st century. In the following essay, Dr. Fidel Fernández Quesada, a sixth-generation vascular surgeon and associate professor at the University of Granada, Spain, describes the difference that ultrasound has made to his clinical practise, and reflects on what his forefathers would have made of such technological advancement."I have worked in the field of angiology and vascular surgery for 25 years, and currently practise both at the San Cecilio University Hospital in Granada and privately. I am also the current president of the…
Portable Ultrasound: Revolutionising Critical Care
Sonosite-portable-ultrasound.png The increased adoption of portable ultrasound has transformed critical care by helping physicians make precise bedside diagnoses in critically ill patients.Safe, accurate, non-invasive, and affordable, point-of care-ultrasound is gaining popularity over other imaging modalities (like X-ray) as it does not expose patients to ionising radiations.Since it is difficult to move unstable/subconscious patients with mechanical ventilation and other specialised intensive support to other areas of the hospitals (for ultrasound/MRI/CT imaging), it is…
Join the Redesigned Sonosite Institute Today!
Have you ever considered using point-of-care ultrasound but didn’t know where to begin?FUJIFILM Sonosite customers have a powerful tool to help them ramp up their scanning skills, making the POCUS learning curve a lot less steep.We’re excited to announce the redesign of Sonosite Institute, our online education portal for POCUS that’s only for Sonosite customers. More good news? Sonosite Institute membership is included in the purchase of a Sonosite ultrasound system.You already know that using ultrasound at the point of care can improve patient care paths and outcomes. Now, access the tools…
POCUS Profile: Dr. Farah Chaudhry
Dr. Farah Chaudhry, Consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health for Leeds Sexual Health, West Yorkshire, describes how point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) allows her to give informed and clear assurances to women using long-acting contraception.I spent 10 years as a GP (general practitinoer) in Leeds, developing a special interest and expertise in women’s health, in particular complex contraception. After that, I decided to pursue the specialty of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) full time. I managed the complex contraception clinics in Kirklees and Bradford for Locala Community…
Ultrasound-Guided Nerve Block, an ED Opioid Alternative
Anaesthesiology News
Alexis LaPietra, DO
With the opioid epidemic ever present in US hospitals, emergency physicians working with anaesthesiologists to manage pain in the ED setting are on the front lines of this urgent public health crisis. Alexis LaPietra, DO, a medical director for pain management in the emergency department of St. Joseph’s Healthcare System, shares some key takeaways and lessons learned when developing and implementing a formal programme focused on novel alternatives to opioid prescriptions for pain. The ALTOSM (Alternatives To Opioids) programme uses alternatives such…
Ultrasound for Neonate & Paediatric Care
Ultrasound imaging has become imperative in neonatal & paediatric intensive care unit (NICU& PICU) for the evaluation and delivery of care.The introduction of a high-quality, reasonably priced, portable ultrasound unit has now made it possible for neonatologists & paediatricians to rapidly obtain diagnostic information that can be extremely helpful in the evaluation of a critically ill neonate or child.Because of the delicacy of new-born infants (particularly critically ill or premature babies), transport to other areas of the hospital for USG, CT, or MR imaging is often difficult…
POCUS Profile: Dr. Xavier Sala-Blanch
Point-of-care ultrasound is playing an important role in the anaesthesiology department at Spain’s Hospital Clinic of Barcelona. Dr. Xavier Sala-Blanch, Senior Doctor and Head of Section in the hospital’s Department of Anaesthesiology and Resuscitation and Associate Professor of Anatomy in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Barcelona, discussed how the use of ultrasound technology has increased in recent years, and the benefits it offers to the clinicians and patients."The University Clinic of Barcelona is an 800-bed, level three hospital serving a local population of around 300,000…
POCUS Profile: Dr. Sameer Bhandari
Dr. Sameer Bhandari, a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at Pinderfields General Hospital in Wakefield, England, plays an integral role in the company’s Complete Ultrasound-guided Regional Anaesthesia Education (CURE) course. Here, he describes how he teaches ultrasound-guided regional blocks to physicians in the UK.My relationship with Sonosite and ultrasound goes back many years, and I routinely use its systems in daily practise. I was approached to join the CURE faculty a few years ago as I was already running some ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia training courses, and was…
Portable Ultrasound Helps Researchers Understand Sharks
Every year the world's oceans lose roughly 100 million sharks due to human hunting. The big problem? Scientists don't know how to manage the population back. As an apex predator, sharks regulate smaller predators in the food chain, helping to ensure the oceans' ecosystem remains balanced and stable. Unfortunately, the global shark population has decreased by 90%, which means that understanding and protecting sharks is seriously at risk. That's why OCEARCH, a non-profit created to change how the scientific community studies large ocean animals, is interested…
A Letter from Dr. Samuel Abelson
The following is a letter from Dr. Samuel Abelson, an emergency medicine physician who lives in Minneapolis.Four years ago, Project Medishare began teaching point-of-care ultrasound to the staff at Hospital Bernard Mevs in Port Au Prince. Through the Sonosite Global Health programme, we have borrowed multiple loaner machines to use in teaching.In 2016, Project Medishare was able to purchase a discounted M-Turbo through Sonosite SoundCaring and bring it to Haiti. This past spring, we once again were able to donate two M-Turbo ultrasound machines to the ICU/PICU staff at Hospital Bernard…
Reducing Costs and Increasing Care Quality With Ultrasound-Guided PIVs
How does ultrasound-guided vascular access improve care and reduce costs? In a new article in Axis Imaging, FUJIFILM Sonosite's Chief Medical Officer Diku Mandavia writes about how Matthew Ostroff, ARNP, a vascular access specialist at St. Joseph’s Healthcare System, a 700-bed hospital in Paterson, N.J., chartered St. Joseph's recently implemented ultrasound-guided vascular access programme in its emergency department, which ranks as the second busiest in the nation."Procedural ultrasound…acts as a visual GPS that allows clinicians to map the patient’s blood vessels and identify the…