Point of Care Ultrasound

[Mitch Connor]

I have found a handful of FM programs that offer POCUS training as part of the curriculum. I think this would be a very valuable tool/skill in a FM clinic especially for acute abdominal pain etc. Does anyone have any experience with this?

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[MedicineZ0Z]

Cardiac exams, volume status evaluation, FAST exams/gall bladder, DVT evaluation. All useful in practice and can change management.

 

[Moose A Moose]

Guidance for difficult MSK injections as well.

 

[scharnhorst]

I have found a handful of FM programs that offer POCUS training as part of the curriculum. I think this would be a very valuable tool/skill in a FM clinic especially for acute abdominal pain etc. Does anyone have any experience with this?

why acute abdominal pain, I feel CT is way more productive and frankly safer alternative
A LOT can be missed by U/S
maybe im outdated feel free to correct me

 

[scharnhorst]

Cardiac exams, volume status evaluation, FAST exams/gall bladder, DVT evaluation. All useful in practice and can change management.

lumps and bumps
thyroid ?

 

[PrimaryCareDOToBe]

Can anyone speak to the new US Apps coming out for the smart phone? I understand entirely that these are very likely to be much worse quality than a true US Machine - But, for something pretty obvious/overt, do these things work? And if they do work for obvious things (And still need to go get a real technician to do a real study) - Would they be able to be billed for?

Also, if you are trained in US, how do you go about ensuring your future practice provides you with access to one? I know this will be super dependent on the organization/region, but can anyone speak to this in general if they had to go about doing it for themselves? Is this something you may have to advocate for/pay out of pocket for to get incorporated into your practice?

 

[PrimaryCareDOToBe]

lumps and bumps
thyroid ?

I feel like Thyroid would be incredibly hard and may lead to more unnecessary follow ups? Just IMO, I need to brush up on Endocrine/Thyroid management (4th year here). But I just remember my clinical systems IM professor in school being VERY weary about the thyroid. Plus, just seeing a nodule or not doesnt change the management cuz if they have symptoms they probably need to be referred to Endocrine anyways to determine if its a Hot or Cold nodule anyways

 

[FamilymedMD]

I used the Lumify with low frequency and cardiac probes for a year and then switched to the Butterfly IQ and now IQ+ when they came out. Took several CME courses and worked online with preceptors and radiology overreads until my medmal agreed to cover this (I'm in solo outpatient practice).

Very useful for DVT rule outs, pneumonia, gallbladders, abscesses, post void residuals, looking for hydronephrosis and finding wood or fish spine foreign bodies. Working on my MSK skills still. Lumify was better at cardiac imaging but that's not been a big use for me (yet).

There are some data for looking at abdominal pain for some etiologies but not sensitive enough (in my hands yet) to avoid CT.

We need some academic primary care types to get data showing effectiveness in various primary care problems (most of the data is from ERs) and to clarify how much training is really needed.

 

[Reboa]

I used the Lumify with low frequency and cardiac probes for a year and then switched to the Butterfly IQ and now IQ+ when they came out. Took several CME courses and worked online with preceptors and radiology overreads until my medmal agreed to cover this (I'm in solo outpatient practice).

Very useful for DVT rule outs, pneumonia, gallbladders, abscesses, post void residuals, looking for hydronephrosis and finding wood or fish spine foreign bodies. Working on my MSK skills still. Lumify was better at cardiac imaging but that's not been a big use for me (yet).

There are some data for looking at abdominal pain for some etiologies but not sensitive enough (in my hands yet) to avoid CT.

We need some academic primary care types to get data showing effectiveness in various primary care problems (most of the data is from ERs) and to clarify how much training is really needed.

How did you go about the online aspect and over reads? I’d like to do exactly what you’re doing with POCUS

 

[FamilymedMD]

How did you go about the online aspect and over reads? I’d like to do exactly what you’re doing with POCUS

I called a bunch of the places that teach ultrasound online. They varied all over the place in price for precepting. Since it was the start of the COVID craziness in 2020, several were simply too busy with their ER or inpatient duties to precept then but likely has changed now.

We found a teleradiology service that would read the images for a reasonable cash price (client billed via us, not billing the patient) and used that for some cases but they reports were pretty minimalist. I learned much more from working with preceptors.

Some places to try include:

Practical POCUS

We are an ultrasound education company designed to improve medical professionals in their abilities to provide point of care ultrasound (POCUS) at the bedside.

www.practicalpocus.com

GUSI - The World's Leader in Point of Care Ultrasound Training

Learn point of care ultrasound (POCUS) from the experts at Global Ultrasound Institute. Our online courses and in-person workshops will teach you the skills you need to use POCUS to improve patient care.

globalultrasoundinstitute.com

Ultrasound Institute - School of Medicine Columbia | University of South Carolina

Ultrasound Courses-CME-Registry Review-Gulfcoast Ultrasound Institute

Gulfcoast Ultrasound Institute Offers a Complete Selection of Ultrasound Continuing Medical Education (CME) from Expert Faculty with Live and Online Training Courses, Webinars, Products & Registry Review.

www.gcus.com

Rapid Radiology