Medical imaging offers life-saving insights into patient health—and perhaps no other imaging modality is more versatile and mobile than point-of-care ultrasound. 

In a fascinating dispatch from the Kurdish city of Duhok in northern Iraq, Dr. Christine Butts describes how point-of-care ultrasound is an indispensable tool for emergency physicians, especially when patients arrive unconscious and with no indication of an obvious malady.

Time is of the essence in an emergency situation, and may be the difference between life and death.  Ambulance crews on the front line must decide rapidly whether or not a patient is suffering from a life-threatening condition requiring specialist treatment, and point-of-care ultrasound can provide vital guidance. 

Anesthesiology News
Edward R. Mariano, MD, MAS

Con la creciente preocupación con respecto a la epidemia de opiacios en los Estados Unidos, el Dr. Edward Mariano, Jefe del Servicio de Anestesia y Cuidados Perioperatorios del Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System y Profesor del Departmento de Anestesiología, Perioperatorio y Medicina del Dolor de la Stanford University School of Medicine describe una serie de estrategias para el éxito de los hospitales al iniciar un programa de medicina para el dolor agudo. Iniciar un programa de medicamentos para el dolor agudo puede agregar un valor significativo a un hospital a través de un mejor control del dolor postoperatorio, una recuperación más rápida, una disminución de los efectos secundarios y una mayor satisfacción del paciente. El artículo publicado recientemente por el Dr. Mariano en una edición especial de Anesthesiology News muestra a los hospitales sobre cómo comenzar con un modelo de Perioperative Surgical Home, que incluye el uso de guía por ecografía al realizar técnicas de anestesia regional y tener éxito. Lea este artículo para obtener más información y vea el video asociado: 

FUJIFILM Sonosite’s M-Turbo point-of-care (POC) ultrasound systems will soon be providing pre-hospital diagnostics across the Scottish Highlands as part of the innovative SatCare trial. This study aims to combine POC ultrasound and advanced communications to enable remote image interpretation and decision making for a range of time-critical conditions.

Dr. Alfredo Tirado is from Florida Hospital in Orlando, and has been leading an emergency response mission in Puerto Rico to help with Hurricane Maria relief.

Did you know that nearly half of all opioid overdoses involve a prescription?

Physicians are beginning to tackle the problem at ground zero: in the ED, where many patients receive their first prescription opioids.

With constant pressure on healthcare providers to improve the quality and efficiency of care while reducing costs, standardization of patient management is a logical step towards more streamlined services. Anesthesia is one area that is beginning to embrace this approach, combining regional nerve blocks with ultrasound guidance to improve both the quality and effectiveness of patient care while minimizing hospital stays.

by Rich Fabian, Chief Operating Officer, FUJIFILM Sonosite