SonoKids GENERAL

Emergency Medicine pioneered the use of ultrasound at the bedside. All of the Colleges of Emergency Medicine in the Anglo-American system have incorporated Emergency Ultrasound into their training curriculum, and all but ACEM have made training and proficiency mandatory. Emergency Ultrasound has not taken hold in Australasia the way it has in other parts of the world. It is a unique procedure that requires a College mandate to overcome the political and financial arguments that have kept it from flourishing in our hospitals...

Emergency ultrasound is performed at the point of care to answer focused clinical questions in a rapid manner. Over the last 20 years, the use of this technique has grown rapidly, and it has become a core requirement in many emergency medicine residencies and in some pediatric emergency medicine fellowships. The use of emergency ultrasound in the pediatric setting is increasing due to the lack of ionizing radiation with these studies, as compared to computed tomography. Utilizing diagnostic ultrasound in the emergency department can allow clinicians to arrive at a diagnosis at the bedside rather than sending the patient out of the department for another study...

INTRODUCTION: Growing evidence supports emergency physician (EP)-performed point-of-care ultrasound (PoC US). However, there is a utilization gap between academic emergency departments (ED) and other emergency settings. We elucidated barriers to PoC US use in a multistate sample of predominantly non-academic EDs to inform future strategies to increase PoC US utilization, particularly in non-academic centers. METHODS: In 2010, we surveyed ED directors in five states (Arkansas, Hawaii, Minnesota, Vermont, and Wyoming; n=242 EDs) about general ED characteristics...

Ultrasound in the emergency department has long been recognized as a powerful screening and diagnostic tool for both physicians and radiologists. In the emergency department, since time is of the essence, it becomes a critical tool in triaging patients. Over the years, ultrasound has gained several advantages over other modalities because of its non-ionizing radiation, portability, accessibility, non-invasive method and simpler learning curve. As a result, ultrasound has become one of the most frequently used diagnostic tools in the emergency department by non-radiologists...

Since the introduction of portable ultrasound systems, sonography has become well established as an integral part of the anesthesiological and critical care equipment and of monitoring. The selection of various ultrasound transducers, sonographic techniques and imaging modes enables a broad variety of clinical applications. In depth background knowledge of the technical aspects is crucial for obtaining what a highly sophisticated ultrasound system has to offer, i.e., sonographic transparency of the complete body and valid information on the structure and dynamics of organs and the circulation...

Point-of-care ultrasonography is increasingly being used to facilitate accurate and timely diagnoses and to guide procedures. It is important for pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) physicians caring for patients in the emergency department to receive adequate and continued point-of-care ultrasonography training for those indications used in their practice setting. Emergency departments should have credentialing and quality assurance programs. PEM fellowships should provide appropriate training to physician trainees...

PURPOSE: Our objectives were to determine the frequency of patient transfers to a tertiary care emergency department (Tertiary ED) due to a lack of radiology services in rural hospital EDs (Rural EDs), and examine the community and patient attributes that are associated with these transfers. METHODS: This was a retrospective chart review of patients transferred to a Tertiary ED from Rural EDs. Transfers excluded from the study included pediatric patients (age <18 years old) and patients transferred for trauma surgeon evaluation...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: As bedside ultrasound (BUS) is being increasingly taught and incorporated into emergency medicine practice, measurement of BUS competency is becoming more important. The commonly adopted experiential approach to BUS competency has never been validated on a large scale, and has some limitations by design. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to introduce and report preliminary testing of a novel emergency BUS image rating scale (URS). METHODS: Gallbladder BUS was selected as the test case...

IMPORTANCE: Point-of-care (POC) ultrasound has been used by a variety of nonradiologist physicians. Recently, POC ultrasound use by pediatricians has received increased attention with the practice of both established and novel applications. OBJECTIVES: To review various uses of ultrasound by pediatricians, discuss challenges and potential pitfalls as pediatric physicians seek to use ultrasound in their practices, and consider various areas of research needs and opportunities...

Point-of-care ultrasonography is increasingly being used to facilitate accurate and timely diagnoses and to guide procedures. It is important for pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) physicians caring for patients in the emergency department to receive adequate and continued point-of-care ultrasonography training for those indications used in their practice setting. Emergency departments should have credentialing and quality assurance programs. PEM fellowships should provide appropriate training to physician trainees...

Emergency physicians have used point-of-care ultrasonography since the 1990 s. Pediatric emergency medicine physicians have more recently adopted this technology. Point-of-care ultrasonography is used for various scenarios, particularly the evaluation of soft tissue infections or blunt abdominal trauma and procedural guidance. To date, there are no published statements from national organizations specifically for pediatric emergency physicians describing the incorporation of point-of-care ultrasonography into their practice...

Point-of-care ultrasonography is increasingly being used to facilitate accurate and timely diagnoses and to guide procedures. It is important for pediatric emergency physicians caring for patients in the emergency department to receive adequate and continued point-of-care ultrasonography training for those indications used in their practice setting. Emergency departments should have credentialing and quality assurance programs. Pediatric emergency medicine fellowships should provide appropriate training to physician trainees...

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate the potential benefit of adding goal-directed ultrasound examinations performed by on-call medical residents using a pocket-size imaging device in patients admitted to a medical department. METHODS: A total of 992 emergency admissions to the medical department at a nonuniversity hospital in Norway were included. Patients admitted on dates with an on-call medical resident randomized to use a pocket-size imaging device were eligible for pocket-size cardiac and abdominal ultrasound examinations or standard care...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

INTRODUCTION: New medical technology brings the potential of lawsuits related to the usage of that new technology. In recent years the use of point-of-care (POC) ultrasound has increased rapidly in the emergency department (ED). POC ultrasound creates potential legal risk to an emergency physician (EP) either using or not using this tool. The aim of this study was to quantify and characterize reported decisions in lawsuits related to EPs performing POC ultrasound. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of all United States reported state and federal cases in the Westlaw database...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Bedside ultrasonography has become a valuable tool in the emergent care setting for triage and rapid evaluation of patients who are acutely ill. Given the cross-sectional nature of ultrasound technology, incidental findings are frequently encountered during imaging. These can impact clinical management and can pose a diagnostic dilemma for emergency medicine (EM) physicians and EM residents. PURPOSE: Our retrospective study was designed to evaluate the prevalence and detection rate of incidental findings on bedside ultrasound examinations performed by EM residents...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Small-part sonography refers to the display of small, near-surface structures using high-frequency linear array transducers. Traditional applications for small part ultrasound imaging include visualization and differential diagnostic evaluation in unclear superficial bodily structures with solid, liquid and mixed texture, as well as similar structures in nearly superficial organs such as the thyroid glands and the testes. Furthermore indications in the head and neck regions are the assessment of the outer CSF spaces in infants, the sonography of the orbit, the sonography of the walls of the large neck vessels, the visualization of superficially situated lymph nodes and neoplasms...