Point-of-Care Ultrasound in the Emergency Department: Training, Perceptions, Applications, and Barriers from Different Healthcare Professionals

• Published in: Journal of Acute Medicine 2024-06, Vol.14 (2), p.74-89
• Main Authors: Healy, Jack, Tzeng, Ching-Fang Tiffany, Wolfshohl, Jon, Shedd, Andrew, Lin, Judy, Patel, Chinmay, Chou, Eric H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Original
• ISSN: 2211-5587; 2211-5595
• DOI: 10.6705/j.jacme.202406_14(2).0003

Background: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is a valuable tool that assists in diagnosis and management of patients in the emergency department (ED) while being cost-efficient and without the use of ionizing radiation. To discern the opinions and perceptions of ED staff about POCUS applications and barriers, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of employees of 12 EDs in North Texas. Methods: Participants completed a 20-item online survey about POCUS with questions pertaining to four domains: (1) employee and training information, (2) perceived benefits, (3) common applications, and (4) barriers to use. Out of 805 eligible ED employees, 103 completed the survey (16.1% response rate). Results: The results indicated a generally positive perception of POCUS among all employee types. Physician had significant exposure and training of POCUS than non-physician group (p ＜ 0.001). Physicians tend to find cardiac assessments more useful for clinical management than non-physicians (47% vs. 23%, p = 0.01), while non-physicians find soft tissue/abscess assessments more useful (27% vs. 9%, p = 0.01). Conclusion: The most significant barriers to POCUS use were time constraints for physicians and a lack of training for non-physician employees. Our study provides valuable insights into the perceptions of multiple ED professionals, serving as a foundation for promoting POCUS use in the ED.