David Kearney, MD; Nathaniel Reisinger, MD; Sadichhya Lohani, MBBS – Volume status assessment is a critical but challenging clinical skill and is especially important for the management of patients in the emergency department, intensive care unit, and dialysis unit where accurate intravascular assessment is necessary to guide appropriate fluid management. Assessment of volume status is subjective and can vary from provider to provider, posing clinical dilemmas.
Momodou L. Sonko, BS; T. Campbell Arnold, BS; Ivan A. Kuznetsov, BS – When a patient presents to the ED, clinicians often turn to medical imaging to better understand their condition. Traditionally, imaging is collected from the patient and interpreted by a radiologist remotely. However, scanning devices are increasingly equipped with analytical software that can provide quantitative assessments at the patient’s bedside. These assessments often rely on machine learning algorithms as a means of interpreting medical images.
Noelle M. Northcutt, MD; Nathaniel C. Reisinger, MD – For those that have experienced how much point of care ultrasound can positively impact patient care, the potential of an organized point of care ultrasound program is moderated by the reality of building such a program from scratch. We have watched novice and intermediate users ride the roller coaster of ambition and reality checks at each of the hands-on skills sessions across the nation.
Patrick J. Taus, MD, PhD; Surya Manivannan, MD; Ria Dancel, MD – Given the contrasting echogenic characteristics of the urinary system and their easily identifiable distortion in response to numerous pathologic processes, the sonographic examination of the kidney and bladder can provide a wealth of clinical information. Although performed for decades as a referral and comprehensive radiologic study, improvement in the cost and performance of portable ultrasound devices has now made point of care ultrasound (POCUS) accessible to a growing number and variety of healthcare providers.
Larissa Kruger Gomes, MD; Het Patel, MD; Nikhil Agrawal, MD; Yael Vin, MD – appropriate assessment of ateriovenous fistulas and grafts is of critical importance. Point of care Ultrasound (POCUS) can be an additional useful skill at the bedside for assessment of the hemodialysis vascular access.
Fabio de Vasconcelos Papa, TSA/FASE, MSsCH; Luiz Guilherme Villares da Costa, MD, PhD – Although the use of cardiac point-of-care ultrasound in anesthesia is well established, with strong evidence supporting its benefit while managing hemodynamically unstable patients during the perioperative period, there is a lack of standardized curriculums incorporating this diagnostic modality as part of the anesthesia residency training.
Sheena Bhimji-Hewitt MAppSc; DMS, CRGS, RDMS – Novel Corona Virus Disease-19 (nCov-19, COVID-19) was recognised as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. As of June 14, 2020, this contagious viral disease has afflicted 188 out of 195 countries in the world with 7,893,700 confirmed cases and 432,922 global deaths.Canada has 98,787 people infected and 8,146 deaths. COVID-19 is thought to transmit through contact, droplets and aerosolization. A rapid review showed limited information on the benefits of conducting lung ultrasound (LUS) versus chest radiograph (CXR) or studies correlating lung ultrasound to chest computed Tomography (CT) in patients positive for Covid-19.
by Cristina D’Alessandro PCP BA(Hons), Ian R. Drennan ACP Phd (c), Joseph Newbigging MD CCFP (EM) FCFP, Amer M. Johri MD MSc FRCPC FASE –
Portable ultrasound is a burgeoning technology with unrealized potential at a critical point in its evolution [1]. Francis Galton first generated ultrasound waves in 1876; however, it wasn’t until 1940 that ultrasound was first applied to clinical medicine [2]. Reaching a “tipping point”, ultrasound is being rapidly assimilated into many medical specialties beyond radiology, now in the hands of non-radiologist, non-cardiologist novel users [2].