Kevin M. Piro, Patricia A. Carney, Christopher J. Smith – Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is a complex psychomotor skill that requires scaffolded support for skill acquisition. However, the effect of spaced curricular elements on learner POCUS behaviors are not clearly understood.
Uyanga Ganbat, Boris Feldman, Shane Arishenkoff, Graydon S. Meneilly, Kenneth M. Madden – Gait parameters and sarcopenia both predict falls risk among older adults. Our objective was to evaluate whether fast, easy-to-obtain measures of anterior thigh muscle by point of care ultrasound (POCUS) are significantly associated with standard gait measures.
Sigmund Kharasch, MD; Matthew Moake, MD PhD; Antonio Riera, MD – Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) has undergone important growth in the field of Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) in the last 14 years and is recognized as a critical diagnostic tool in the care of ill and injured children. The first PEM POCUS fellowship was established in 2010. Now, there are currently 30 ultrasound fellowships that offer training to PEM physicians. In 2014, 46 PEM POCUS leaders established the P2 (PEM POCUS) Network (www.P2network.org). This serves as a platform for sharing expertise, building research collaborations, and offering mentorship in the use of POCUS in PEM.
Marwa L. Ali, MD; Sean Beckman, DO; Stephen Alerhand, MD – A pseudoaneurysm results from a tear in a vessel wall. This leads to extravasation of blood into adjacent tissue and eventual formation of a fibrous sac that maintains continuity with the lumen. These vascular injuries very rarely occur in deeper vessels of the face (e.g. maxillary artery) due to protection from structures like the bony mandible and parotid gland. If left untreated, these pseudoaneurysms can lead to infection, thromboembolism, hemorrhage, and compression of surrounding structures such as facial nerve branches
Daniella Lamour, DO; Robert A. Farrow, DO; Jean Pierre; Daniel Puebla, MD; Paul Khalil, MD – Larva migrans is a cutaneous parasitic infection that occurs when an immature hookworm larva inadvertently penetrates the dermis of a human, typically on the extremities. Traditionally, a clinical diagnosis is made when a tortuous/serpiginous eruption is seen superficially in the skin with complaints of intense pruritus. Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is a useful diagnostic tool for soft tissue complaints in the emergency department (ED). We describe a case of an 18-year-old woman who presented to the ED with foot pruritis four days after walking on the beach barefoot.
Wei Ven Chin, MD MRCP; Mae Jane Khaw, MD MRCP – Gas-forming pyogenic liver abscess (GFLPA) carries a high mortality rate. Early identification of the source of infection in sepsis results in better survival. Bedside point of care ultrasound (POCUS) can be used to help localize a source of infection. A 59-year-old man presented with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and was diagnosed with GFLPA on the initial encounter via clinical assessment and POCUS examination.
Nilan Schnure, MD; Mahmoud Mohamed Elfadil, MD; Wilma Chan, MD MSCE; Cameron Baston, MD MSCE; Frances Shofer, PhD; Nova Panebianco, MD MPH – Despite growing use of point of care ultrasound (POCUS), there remains a paucity of data about familiarity with POCUS among educators who dictate curricular content in undergraduate medical education. This paper aims to longitudinally characterize the level of comfort and frequency of POCUS use among faculty involved in undergraduate clerkship education.
David Cannata, BS; Callista Love, BS; Pascale Carrel, BA; Trent She, MD; Seth Lotterman, MD; Felix Pacheco, MD; Meghan Kelly Herbst, MD – Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is specific for acute cholecystitis (AC), but surgeons request radiology imaging (RI) prior to admitting patients with POCUS-diagnosed AC. Objectives: We sought to determine the test characteristics of POCUS for AC when performed and billed by credentialed emergency physicians (EPs), the accuracy rate of RI when performed after POCUS, and the time added when RI is requested after POCUS demonstrates AC.
Zachary Boivin; Curtis Xu; Donias Doko; Meghan Kelly Herbst; Trent She – The prevalence of phantom scanning, or point of care ultrasound (POCUS) performed without saving images, has not been well studied. Phantom scanning can negatively affect patient care, reduce billed revenue, and can increase medicolegal liability. We sought to quantify and compare the prevalence of phantom scanning among emergency department (ED) cardiac arrests and trauma resuscitations.
Derrick Huang, MD; Jacob Ruzicka, MD; Leoh León, MD; Latha Ganti, MD, MS, MBA, FACEP – Upper extremity acute limb ischemia (ALI) is a limb-threatening and potentially lethal pathology that is most commonly caused by vascular embolization. Outcomes of limb ischemia are time-sensitive due to the correlation between a longer time from symptom onset to intervention with a vastly higher risk of amputation. In this report, point of care ultrasound (POCUS) was utilized to rapidly diagnose a patient with a proximal right brachial artery embolic occlusion, prompting expedited surgical consultation and successful embolectomy.