Benefits of Ultrasound Guided Cannulation
Thanks to an Emergency Medicine Foundation (EMF) research grant, a new ultrasound guided cannulation training initiative is helping emergency department clinicians in Australia more easily find a patient’s vein for cannulation. Gold Coast University Hospital Emergency Department physician Dr. Amy Archer-Jones was awarded an EMF research grant to lead a year-long study analyzing the effectiveness of an ultrasound training intervention.
Dr. Archer-Jones said the results of the study were good news for older patients and patients with chronic diseases or illness who are in regular need of…
Using POCUS for the Patient in Shock
In a 2018 article published in the ICU: Management & Practice section of HealthMangement.org, Drs. Adrian Wong and Jonathan Wilkinson discussed the benefits of deploying point-of-care ultrasound for patients in various forms of shock. They conclude that POCUS can help the clinician to more accurately identify the type of shock, or the coexistence of different types of shock. With proper target management strategies, ultrasound is an invaluable tool for emergency physicians and intensivists.
Shock is a common enough occurrence in the ED and ICU, and can co-exist in different forms. The…
Ultrasound Helps Intravenous Line Insertion for Children with Difficult Access
In a July 2019 study published in Annals of Emergency Medicine, researchers determined that ultrasound-guided line insertions improves the first-attempt success rates over traditional palpation methods for children with predicted difficult access.
Previous research had shown successful first-attempt rates were approximately 75% for pediatric intravenous lines, with children with difficult access sometimes requiring multiple attempts.1, 2 Difficulty in obtaining line access often results in diagnostic and treatment delays as well as more pain and anxiety for the patient and family. If…
POCUS Profile: Dr. T.V.S. Gopal
Dr. T.V.S. Gopal, Head of the Department of Anaesthesia and Associate Medical Director at CARE Hospitals in Hyderabad, India, has been practicing for more than 30 years. In this recent interview, Dr. Gopal discusses how POCUS has transformed the craft of anesthesiology and the many scenarios where he uses ultrasound.
When did you start using ultrasound?
I began my foray into ultrasound guided regional anesthesia in year 2006 when I attended the Second Advanced Regional Anaesthesia & Ultrasound Guided Peripheral Nerve Block Course conducted by the Aesculap Academy in Tan Tock Seng…
Vets Examine Expectant Orangutan with Sonosite Ultrasound
Feliz, a Sumatran orangutan living in Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, Louisiana, is expecting her second child. Feliz’s newest offspring is due late this summer. “All of the work that the primate care team has done has paid off, and we could not be more excited to have a baby orangutan on the way,” says Courtney Eparvier, Curator of Primates and Sea Lions at the zoo.In a video released by the Audobon Nature Institute, Eparvier describes how ultrasound is an important part of taking caring of Feliz and her baby:“We are making sure she’s getting prenatal vitamins, and also what’s really cool is the…
Top New Delhi Pediatrician Uses Sonosite to Promote Ultrasound
The Economic Times Healthworld recently interviewed Dr Vikas Kohli, an American Board Certified Pediatric Cardiologist with more than 20 years of experience. Based in the Delhi Child Heart Center in New Delhi, Dr. Kohli practices non-invasive, interventional pediatric cardiology and fetal cardiology. He has worked in premier medical centers as well as villages in India’s remotest areas. He spoke about how he uses ultrasound in his practice, and why he prefers Sonosite devices.Dr. Kohli feels that ultrasonography is an essential part of any ICU.“I believe that for echocardiography,…
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…
New Study: POCUS Saves Time, Money, in Family Practice
According to a systematic review recently published in Annals of Family Medicine, point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) can reduce costs and improve diagnostic abilities in family medicine and other clinical settings.
In an article on Healio Primary Care Today, the study's author, Camilla Aakjær Andersen, MD, of Aalborg University Fyrkildevej in Denmark, explained that POCUS "empowers the primary care physician by providing more diagnostic information or increasing precision in clinical procedures."
In addition to high specificity and sensitivity, Andersen says that the 51 studies…
Point-Of-Care Ultrasound Helps Make Regional Anesthesia Quicker And Safer
Ultrasound-guidance has proven invaluable for the regional neurosurgical center at the Salford Royal Hospital outside Manchester, England. In addition to helping to improve patient safety, ultrasound is increasingly being used to guide regional anesthesia, offering a variety of benefits.Jim Corcoran, consultant neuroanesthetist and clinical director for perioperative care at the Salford Royal, says that ultrasound-guidance also allows anesthetists to reduce the amount of anesthetic required to effectively block a nerve region (10-20 ml versus 30-40 ml using landmark/nerve stimulation…
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…
ACEP Interview with Dr. Diku Mandavia
Dr. Diku Mandavia joined FUJIFILM Sonosite as an advisor back in 2007. But he first worked with point-of-care ultrasound when he trained in Emergency Medicine at Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Medical Center in 1991, during the Los Angeles gang epidemic.
“We were overwhelmed with knife and gun injuries…the CT scanner was on the third floor, three football fields away, and patients often died in front of us with undetected internal bleeding…. It was a very frustrating experience.”
In an interview with Dr. Rachel Liu, director of point-of-care ultrasound education…
POCUS Profile: Dr. Frances Chow
Anesthesiologist Dr. Frances Chow works to bring ultrasound-guided nerve blocks to British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada. British Columbia Cancer Agency has among the best cancer outcomes in the world, including highest of the G7 countries for childhood leukemia, and second highest survival rates across 67 countries for prostate and breast cancer.[1]
BC Cancer covers the entire spectrum of cancer care, from prevention and screening to diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation. They operate six regional cancer centers and are dedicated to finding the causes of cancer, and…
Who Orders the Most MSK Extremity Imaging?
Researchers obtained data from the public Medicare files to find data on provider referral for medical imaging to identify the providers referring MSK extremity imaging examinations to radiologists.
The results? In 2014, a total of 4,275,647 MSK extremity imaging examinations were ordered. But who referred the highest percentage of cases to radiology for extremity imaging?
Emergency medicine
Rheumatology
Orthopedic surgery
Internal medicine
The winner, at 37.6% is…Orthopedic surgery!
Pie Chart MSK Extremity Imaging Orders by Medical Specialty.png…
When IV Insertion Seems Impossible
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Any medical professional with hospital experience knows how crucial successfully inserting a peripheral IV can be. Getting fluids and medications into a critically ill or injured patient can make or break the effectiveness of their treatment.
At the best, a patient with challenging vasculature that involves multiple insertion attempts can frustrate and fluster medical staff while causing the patient to experience pain. At worst, a tricky vein can mean mounting medical complications as dehydration worsens; and the eventual…
Ultrasound: Increasingly Common & Versatile
Point-of-care ultrasound is efficient. It is non-invasive. It is safe. And fortunately for everyone, it is becoming more and more ubiquitous. Most of the public is introduced to ultrasound when it was used to begin monitoring fetal and maternal health during pregnancy, but in fact, ultrasound’s utility has since spread into nearly every medical field. Used for diagnosis and for guiding procedures, ultrasound offers excellent imaging capabilities with minimally invasive, efficacious diagnosis abilities without exposing patients to ionizing radiation. These days, ultrasound is…
User Stories: Sports Medicine Clinic Physician Uses Sonosite Ultrasound
Dr. Adam Garnett, a sports and exercise medicine (SEM) consultant at the Jersey Sports Medicine Clinic, divides his time between treating rugby players suffering from acute trauma injuries and triathletes and runners with overuse injuries. He explained how the use of point-of-care ultrasound has changed the way he manages sports injuries.My interest in sports and exercise medicine started 20 years ago when I was a GP in Bath and got involved with the rugby club. After moving to Jersey, I joined the Jersey Sports Medicine Clinic, and also developed my own private practice. I look after a lot…
Sports and Exercise Medicine Benefits from the Use of Ultrasound
Point-of-care ultrasound is an essential tool for Dr. Mark Ridgewell, an early pioneer of sport and exercise medicine (SEM). Through the course of his career, Mark has worked with many amateur and professional sportsmen and women, beginning with rugby and including three years with England Cricket and eight years with the Wales football team.The first SEM consultant to be registered in Wales, Dr. Ridgewell continues to work with the LTA and WTA women’s tennis tour every summer, and with Welsh Olympic and Commonwealth athletes across many sports under the Sport Wales banner. Mark also leads an…
Supporting REBOA with POCUS
Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA) is an emergency technique for temporarily blocking the blood flow to the lower body in the event of subdiaphragmatic internal bleeding.A guidewire and balloon-like device are inserted into the aorta via the femoral artery and, as it inflates, the balloon blocks the aorta, reducing blood flow to the injured sites but maintaining it to vital organs such as the heart and brain. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) can be used to guide and verify the position of the guidewire and balloon during the procedure, and is a preferred…
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…
POCUS in Pre-hospital Settings: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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. Geert-Jan Deddens, a nurse practitioner in emergency care with the Rotterdam Ambulance Service, describes the benefits of using hand-carried ultrasound systems to assess suspected abdominal aortic aneurysms, allowing patients to be taken to the most appropriate hospital…