The Changing Face of Anaesthesia
With constant pressure on healthcare providers to improve the quality and efficiency of care while reducing costs, standardisation of patient management is a logical step towards more streamlined services. Anaesthesia 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.Dr. Martin Zoremba (PhD), Chief Registrar in the anaesthesia Department at Kreisklinikum Siegen, describes the transformation of his department and the benefits that a…
Sonosite Portable Ultrasound at the Spartan Race
From July 1-2, the Morzine ski resort in Savoy, France hosted the Spartan Race, an obstacle course open to all physical abilities and all levels. Competitors from all over Europe took part in the event.With cold temperatures (54°F [12°C]), mud, rain, and a glacial river, the competition lived up to its formidable reputation and in this type of race, competitors are put through the mill and injuries are common. When it comes to providing first aid to competitors, it pays to come prepared.Dr. Mourad Bensalah practises medicine in the Intensive Care Unit at St. Anne military hospital in Toulon…
Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery Using Ultrasound-Guided Nerve Blocks
A Sonosite SII point-of-care ultrasound system recently played a key role in an innovative procedure of thyroid surgery without the use of general anaesthetic.Dr. Rüdiger Eichholz, a consultant anaesthetist working for private practise in Stuttgart, Germany, explained the case.“We were approached with an unusual case; a young woman in need of thyroid surgery, but unwilling to have a general anaesthetic due to a childhood medical trauma,” said Dr. Eicholz. “We looked at the possibility of performing an ultrasound-guided block of the cervical nerves pathway – a technique commonly used for…
Point-of-care ultrasound helps make regional anaesthesia quicker and safer, and improves patient comfort
Ultrasound guidance has proven invaluable for the regional neurosurgical centre at the Salford Royal Hospital, helping to improve safety, save time and enhance the patient experience. Dr. Jim Corcoran, consultant neuroanaesthetist and clinical director for perioperative care at the hospital, explained.
When I joined the Salford Royal in [2006], my initial interest in ultrasound grew out of a need to alleviate the delays experienced by trauma patients needing a cardiac echo. Training opportunities for regional anaesthesia in the North West were very limited, but we realised that…
Sonosite Edge II at the 2017 Gaes Titan Desert Race
The Gaes Titan Desert by Garmin is a 6-day endurance bike race over mountain terrain; the 2017 edition takes place in Morocco. From April 30-May 5, the Titan Desert saw over 463 top-level mountain bikers cover 380 miles of unyielding desert in gruelling conditions.Dr. Marc Bausili, an anaesthetist at the Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona and a member of the Titan Desert medical team, knew what kind of injuries would be the most common, and what kind of equipment would be the most useful.“We knew from our experience of similar events,” says Bausili, “that with so many participants, and the…
Global Health: FUJIFILM Sonosite Donates Ultrasound Systems to Refugee Rescue Organisation
FUJIFILM Sonosite has donated two M-Turbo point-of-care ultrasound systems to the non-governmental sea rescue organisation Proactiva Open Arms, based in Badalona, Spain, to support efforts in rescuing refugees.Proaativa Open Arms specialises in surveillance and rescue missions of refugee-filled boats in the Aegean and Central Mediterranean seas. People fleeing civil war, poverty, and persecution in their own countries have headed for Southern European shores. Boats that break down in the water are abandoned by the operators (usually smugglers) and refugees are left stranded in the…
POCUS Profile: Dr. Matthew J. Reed
Point-of-care ultrasound plays an important role in the emergency sector, enabling hospital clinicians and paramedics responding to an urgent call for medical assistance to assess a patient’s condition. Dr Matthew Reed, an Emergency Medicine consultant at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, explains how ultrasound contributes to the management of cardiac arrest:"My interest in ultrasound began over a decade ago when, as a registrar training in Edinburgh, I visited Australia to work at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney. At that time, we were not using ultrasound in Edinburgh;…
Point-of-care ultrasound transforms sports and exercise medicine in Jersey
Sportsmen and women on the Channel Island of Jersey are benefitting from the introduction of point-of-care ultrasound. Dr Adam Garnett, a sports and exercise medicine consultant at the Jersey Sports Medicine Clinic, explained: “My interest in sports and exercise medicine started 20 years ago when, as a GP in Bath, I got involved with the rugby club. I now look after a lot of Jersey’s sports teams, splitting my time between professional rugby players with cases of acute trauma – mainly due to impact injuries – and athletes and runners, where overuse injuries are common.”
“Two years…
Global Health: Ultrasound Expands Access and Improves Maternal Care
Every day, 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. 99% live in rural areas. Many of them could be prevented with proper maternal care including ultrasound imaging during their pregnancy and delivering in a medical clinic. Of those deaths, 40% are due to injuries or conditions related to placenta complications - and the only way to detect abnormal placenta challenges is through an ultrasound exam.A few years ago, Sonosite partnered with Qualcomm Wireless Reach, Trice Imaging Inc., and Sony to create the Mobile Ultrasound Patrol project, a trial…
Point-of-Care Ultrasound Shows Promise for Osgood-Schlatter Diagnosis
Osgood-Schlatter disease is a developmental disorder that causes musculoskeletal problems and is rare in the normal population. However, the condition is more common in teenagers who play sports, affecting an estimated 3-5% percent of this population; it causes painful inflammation below the knee in adolescents and can lead to permanent soft tissue damage. The condition is often diagnosed by MRI, which is both costly and impractical for screening purposes.Dr. Ralf Doyscher, from the Department of Sports Medicine at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, recently participated in a study of…
User Stories: Madrid's Emergency Services and Portable Ultrasound
Since point-of-care ultrasound systems were originally designed for dealing with emergencies in a battlefield setting, it's not surprising that ultrasound now plays a pivotal role in emergency vehicles around the world. Dr Ramón de Elías Hernandez, head of on-call doctors at SAMUR, Madrid’s municipal emergency service, describes the advantages that point-of-care ultrasound brings to his everyday life.
"I've been an ambulance doctor for the Servicio de Asistencia Municipal de Urgencia y Rescate (SAMUR) in Madrid for 20 years, 10 of those as head of on-call doctors. My day job is to…
Point-of-care ultrasound systems prove ideal for the Children’s Acute Transport
London, UK, February 16, 2017 - The Children’s Acute Transport Service (CATS) depends on point-of-care ultrasound systems to get quick and accurate vascular access in critically ill children being transferred to specialist treatment centres. Advanced Nurse Practitioner Cathy Roberts explained: “In the UK, paediatric intensive care is provided at centralised units, and children needing this care must be safely transferred there by people with appropriateknowledge and skills. CATS provides a retrieval service for the North Thames area, transferring around 1,200 critically…
Supporting Homeless Veterans with Sonosite iViz Portable Ultrasound
It’s one of the central pillars of the United States military: You don’t leave a fellow soldier behind. That ethos pushed five Vietnam veterans, Jack Lyon, Bill Mahedy, Randy Waite, Paul Grasso, and Russ Kelly, to a breaking point in 1981 when they founded Vietnam Veterans of San Diego, a nationally recognised leader in serving homeless military veterans. As their history page shows, “they were struggling with the traumas of war and looking to enhance services from the VA that were available to them at that time. They were sitting around a group counseling session, talking seriously…
LIG Global Uses Sonosite Ultrasound in the Dominican Republic
By Raghu Thunga, M.D., COO, LIG Global FoundationLIG Global Foundation is a not-for-profit public global charity dedicated to helping provide proper healthcare to the underprivileged. In our recent trip to Dajabon in the Dominican Republic, we utilised the Sonosite portable ultrasound to assist our work. We saw over 150 patients and performed a multitude of surgical procedures, with the Sonosite M-Turbo ultrasound device being critical to our work. Since there was a scarcity of analgesic medication to treat pain for our postoperative patients, we relied upon…
Mobility and the Sonosite iViz: Gold Coast University Hospital
Read how one of Australia’s largest emergency departments, the Gold Coast University Hospital is utilising the Sonosite iViz.Dr. Stuart Watkins works in one of the largest and busiest emergency departments in Australia averageing over 300 patients a day. “When working in a department the size of something like three football fields, you can imagine getting from A to B can require covering some distance. Being able to take a portable device wherever you go makes everyone’s working experience so much easier, and definitely more efficient.”Dr. Watkins was extremely excited to start…
Six Steps to Implement Bedside Ultrasonography in Critical Care
Health Management Magazine
Nidhi Nikhanj, M.D.
In this article for Health Management Magazine, Dr. Nidhi Nikhanj lays out the path for a system-wide implementation of point of care ultrasound to bring quality of care and enhanced patient safety to the bedside. See the six steps that a large health system used to successfully adopt ultrasound.
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Taking Ultrasound to Mongolia by Ingrid Yuile
Ultrasound educator Ingrid Yuile took her training skills and Sonosite EDGE to the steppes of Mongolia and found a country of beauty and complexity. This is her story…
“In June 2015, I set off with 8 intrepid emergency physicians to teach emergency medicine to Mongolian doctors across a range disciplines. A strong relationship between Australian and Mongolian anaesthetists has been forged since 2001 when Dr David Pesod first represented Australia at an anaesthesia conference.
Over the years, Australian volunteers have delivered quality training in obstetrics and…
iViz in Kolkata India
Dr. Gordon Johnson travels to India and Haiti regularly and finds point-of-care ultrasound to be essential for seeing his patients in resource limited settings. Dr. Johnson had his share of scanning and training with iViz during his most recent trip to India on December 2015, and reports back to us:
“During my trip to India I joined the professors and residents on rounds on the medical wards in two public hospitals in Kolkata India. The staff was really excited to see this technology, many had ultrasound experience but none had seen such a capable device. We performed cardiac, lung…
FUJIFILM Sonosite goes to CES 2016 Digital Health Summit, with iViz!
FUJIFILM Sonosite attends the Digital Health Summit at CES in Las Vegas last week, to listen to Digital Health experts, feel the remarkable Digital Health evolution, and present on key topics. “One thing for sure, Digital Health is now front and centre in the minds of Healthcare leaders. It is the future framework for anything Health considered, with the primary goal to empower patient and clinician to make more informed decisions, leading to improved population health management, better outcomes, and economic efficiencies.” said Marco Daoura, Director of Product Management, FUJIFILM…
Ultrasound in MSK
Sonosite was recently graced with visiting doctors from around the country, one of which was Dr Byron Patterson who is a partner in Primary Care Sports Medicine in Tarzana California. He made a wonderful presentation to more than 160 employees about ultrasound applications in sports medicine.
What a surprise it was to see him on a reality show that one of his patients was participating in. The patient had knee pain and it is amazing to see how musculoskeletal ultrasound was used not only to diagnose the problem, but also to help relieve his pain and increase his…