Italian Hospital Makes Headway against COVID-19
Last month, we interviewed Dr. Enrico Storti, Anesthesia and ICU Director/Unit Coordinator of the Emergency Department at Maggiore Hospital, from the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic in Lodi, Italy. In this latest update from Lodi, BBC show Newsnight was given exclusive access to Maggiore Hospital. Drs. Storti and his fellow physician Stefano Paglia, head of Maggiore’s hospital’s emergency department, gave Newsnight an inspiring status update as they “catch their breath” and continue to treat COVID-19 patients.
Renal Imaging and Blood Clotting for COVID-19 Patients
Dr. Justin Kirk-Bayley is the Clinical Director of Therapeutics at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, England. Dr. Kirk-Bayley is an expert in the use of ultrasound in the ICU and anesthesiology.
On April 30, FUJIFILM Sonosite Chief Medical Officer Diku Mandavia, M.D. interviewed Dr. Kirk-Bayley for insights on using ultrasound to treat and manage COVID-19 patients. That interview can be found on Sonosite’s COVID-19 resource page, or you can read the full transcript. In addition to this interview, we asked Dr. Kirk-Bayley several follow-up questions regarding renal…
The Role of Ultrasound in Pain Management
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has a significant role to play in pain management for patients around the world. Dr. Victor Mayoral Rojals, Consultant Anesthetist and head of the pain unit at the Bellvitge University Hospital, in Barcelona, Spain, discusses the many advantages of ultrasound in his day-to-day practice.
My early experiences of using point-of-care ultrasound in pain management began in 2005, when I worked together with Dr. Xavier Sala-Blanch—a pioneer for using ultrasound in anesthesia—to organize the first congress of the Catalan Society of Anesthesia. He demonstrated…
From the Front Line in the UK: A Talk with Dr. Justin Kirk-Bayley
For Sonosite’s ongoing series of interviews of physicians working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Medical Officer Diku Mandavia, M.D. interviewed Dr. Justin Kirk-Bayley in Guilford, England about his experiences fighting the coronavirus. You can watch the interview on our COVID-19 Ultrasound Resources site.
Dr. Mandavia:
As you know, we're in the middle of a global pandemic, and we have been trying to get viewpoints from around the world. As the pandemic continues, right now we're about 2.7 million cases around the world and nearly 200,000 deaths. Today we are interviewing…
The Role of Point-of-Care Ultrasound in COVID-19
ICU Management & Practice
Diku Mandavia, MD, FACEP, FRCPC, Chief Medical Officer at FUJIFILM Sonosite
Hospitals all over the world are working to rapidly expand their capacity to treat critically ill patients with COVID-19. To find out how hospitals on the frontlines of the pandemic are coping and the lessons learned that could help other hospitals prepare, FUJIFILM Sonosite’s Chief Medical Officer, Diku Mandavia, interviews Enrico Storti, the ICU Director/Unit Coordinator of the Emergency Department at Maggiore Hospital in Lodi, Italy.
The Role of POCUS in COVID-19,…
From the Front Line in New York: A Talk with Dr. Mangala Narasimhan
Mangala Narasimhan, D.O. is a pulmonary and critical care specialist from Long Island Jewish Medical Center, in Long Island, New York. Dr. Narasimhan spoke with FUJIFILM Sonosite Chief Medical Officer Diku Mandavia, M.D. about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted her hospital in the heart of New York's outbreak. You can watch the interview on our COVID-19 resource page.
Dr. Mandavia:
Today is March 26, 2020, and unfortunately, we have hit another milestone in the COVID-19 outbreak. Right now we are at over 82,000 cases in the United States, which is more than anywhere else in the…
Discussing the Use of Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Evaluating COVID-19 Patients
DOTMed HealthCare Business News
Diku Mandavia, MD, FACEP, FRCPC, Chief Medical Officer at FUJIFILM Sonosite
Increasingly, hospitals are using point-of-care ultrasound to evaluate patients with COVID-19. To learn more, read the HealthCare Business News interview with Diku Mandavia, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of FUJIFILM Sonosite, Inc.
POCUS for Evaluating COVID-19, DotMed, Mandavia, March 2020.pdf
From the Frontlines of Italy: A Follow-Up Talk with Emergency Physician Enrico Storti
Dr. Enrico Storti is the Anesthesia and ICU Director/Unit Coordinator of the Emergency Department at Maggiore Hospital in Lodi, Italy, near Milan. Lodi was hit very hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Dr. Storti is on the frontlines treating patients and helping to contain the outbreak.On March 17, FUJIFILM Sonosite Chief Medical Officer Diku Mandavia, M.D. interviewed Dr. Storti to gain a better understanding of the clinical situation in Italy. That interview can be found on Sonosite’s COVID-19 resource page, or you can read the full transcript. In addition to this interview, we asked Dr.…
Reinventing the ICU for COVID-19
Enrico Storti is the Anesthesia and ICU Director/Unit Coordinator of the Emergency Department at Maggiore Hospital in Lodi, Italy. Lodi is located near Milan and the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy. Lodi was hit very hard by the pandemic, and Dr. Storti is on the frontlines treating patients and helping to contain the outbreak.Dr. FUJIFILM Sonosite Chief Medical Officer Diku Mandavia, M.D. interviewed Dr. Storti to gain a better understanding of the clinical situation in Italy. Storti discussed how his hospital has coped with the sudden surge of patients. He describes…
Ultrasound Provides Answers for Rebuilding Lives in Nepal
Dr. Jesus Casado Cerrada, Internist at the Hospital Universitario de Getafe and Professor at the Universidad Europea, Madrid, Spain, has travelled to the Rasuwa district of Nepal to help a local NGO rebuild the region’s infrastructure following a severe earthquake in 2015. Dr. Casado explains:
“University colleagues from the architectural and engineering departments had already established successful projects in the village of Gatlang in Nepal. They returned from these trips saying there was a desperate need for better healthcare provision and asked if I could offer…
Sonosite Joins the Fight Against Coronavirus in China
After the outbreak of COVID-19, commonly called coronavirus, Sonosite team members across China have stepped forward to support local clinicians in the diagnosis of coronavirus and to help control the epidemic’s spread. In the fight against coronavirus, ultrasound is a key tool for healthcare workers who are saving lives in this critical period. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) provides rapid, non-invasive real-time scanning, and it is an ideal device for monitoring cardiopulmonary function in critically-ill patients.
Sonosite has sent support staff to the provinces of Hubei, Zhejiang,…
Pioneering Best Practice in Vascular Access with Point-of-Care Ultrasound
Alexandros Mallios is a vascular surgeon at the Institut Mutualiste Montsouris (IMM) hospital in Paris. For the last four years, he has pioneered the use of ultrasound-guided percutaneous arteriovenous fistula access in patients undergoing hemodialysis. Dr. Mallios explains why he believes point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) should be the standard of care for vascular access in all patients.
During my vascular surgical fellowship at the University of Oklahoma, it became clear to me that using ultrasound was fundamental to providing high quality care in hemodialysis patients. It helps to…
Ultrasound Vital for Women’s Healthcare in Rural Ghana
Dr. Carlye Jensen practices emergency and family medicine in Canada. She recently went on a mission for Ghana Rural Integrated Development (GRID), whose purpose is to provide basic medical care to the rural areas of northern Ghana, where many patients have no access to healthcare at all. Dr. Jensen’s team borrowed two Sonosite M-Turbos for the November 2019 mission, and provided us with a report on how she put the portable ultrasound machines to good use.
After landing in Ghana's capital Accra, we took a 12-hour bus ride to the village of Carpenter, where we are housed for our two-week…
Ultrasound Plays Vital Role in Training Clinicians in Vietnam
Dr. Megan Thùy Vũ is a global surgery resident at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. In addition to the five-year clinical general surgery program, she has two additional years dedicated to cross-training in other specialties, including point-of-care ultrasound, orthopedics, and OBGYN. Her professional interests include global pediatric surgery, trauma in combat and austere settings, and global surgical training and educational program development. Dr. Vũ sent us this report about the International Pediatric Specialists Alliance for the Children of Vietnam (ISPAC-VN) and the role…
POCUS Profile: Dr Raj Tobin
Dr. Raj Tobin, Director & Head of the Department of Anesthesiology at Max Super Specialty Hospital in Saket, New Delhi has 28 years of experience in anesthesiology. We interviewed Dr. Tobin to learn about the various clinical applications and the benefits of using point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in her routine practice.How long you have been using ultrasound in your practice?My first introduction to ultrasound technology was in 2006 when I attended a regional anesthesia workshop in New Delhi conducted by Dr. Manoj Karmakar from Chinese University, Hong Kong. It was an amazing experience…
Sonosite M-Turbo Gets Plenty of Work in Vanuatu: Part Two
This post is the second part of Dr. Jonathan “Jono” Henry’s report from the Pacific nation of Vanuatu. Be sure to read the first chapter of his remarkable report.Out in the peripheries, supply chains fail frequently: depleted electrolyte reagents, exhausted medication supplies, emptied oxygen tanks, or a single broken part rendering the X-ray machine dormant for months on end. Power outages occur regularly, and disasters such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and cyclones disrupt inter-island transport and retrieval plans. These interdependent systems running at maximum capacity on a small…
MSK Pain and Prescribing Opioids
A new study published by the National Institutes of Health’s Journal of Pain reveals that first-time patients suffering from chronic MSK pain are prescribed opioids more often than non-drug treatments. Researchers analyzed data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey between 2007 and 2015. The data came from 11,994 visits over the 9-year period.
They found that these patients were prescribed non-opioid drugs 40.2% of the time, with opioids being prescribed 21.5% of the time. In contrast, non-drug treatments (such as counseling, exercise programs, diet and nutrition advice, and…
One Woman’s Mission to End Preventable Infant and Maternal Deaths in Somaliland
Midwife Edna Adan has always dreamt of building her own hospital. After training in London in the 1950s, she qualified as a midwife and returned to her home in Somaliland. Unfortunately, a protracted civil war meant that it was many years before her plan could be realized, and she had to leave her homeland. During the thirty-year civil war, Edna worked for the World Health Organization (WHO) in many countries across Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, and was responsible for training midwives and traditional birth attendants in 22 countries. Edna shared her story of how ultrasound…
Center for Medicare & Medicaid Implement New Rules for Shoulder Pain Diagnosis
Beginning on January 1, 2020, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) launched a new appropriate use criteria (AUC) program for advanced diagnostic imaging services provided to Medicare beneficiaries. The purpose of the new program, enacted as part of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) signed into law in 2014, is to address the overutilization of MRI, CT, nuclear medicine, and PET scans.
Shoulder pain, including suspected rotator cuff injury, is one of eight initial clinical areas CMS had identified to review for overutilization and ordering patterns that are…
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Implement New Criteria for Advanced Imaging
Beginning January 1, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is implementing a new appropriate use criteria (AUC) program that will be applied to advanced diagnostic imaging services. The program was established as a provision of the 2014 Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) to reduce overutilization of these services.
Under the new AUC program, clinicians are required to consult a qualified Clinical Decision Support Mechanism (CDSM) prior to ordering Medicare Part B advanced diagnostic imaging services, defined as an MRI, CT, nuclear medicine, or PET scan.…