Articles That May Change Your Practice: Prehospital Ultrasound

Abstract

Since the introduction of bedside point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in the emergency department more than 2 decades ago, emergency physicians have routinely used this imaging modality as part of their initial diagnostic workup of patients. POCUS has become a routine part of postgraduate medical training programs and common practice in many medical specialties, including emergency medicine, critical care, and surgery. Many guidelines now incorporate ultrasound as a standard of care. Its use in assessing trauma for internal hemorrhage decreases the time to definitive treatment, reduces hospital length of stay, and may reduce mortality. Russell D. MacDonald, MD, MPH, FCFP, FRCPC, is the medical director and chair of the Quality Care Committee at Ornge Transport Medicine; an associate professor at the University of Toronto; and an attending staff member at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He can be reached at [email protected] Selma Alqattan, MB BCh, BAO, SBEM, is a fellow in the trauma track of the emergency medicine fellowship program in the Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.