Point-of-Care Sonography in Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine

Abstract

The use of Point-of-care ultrasonography (POC Ultrasonography) is getting more and more important in the bedside care of patients, especially in emergency- and intensive care units. In addition to the focused sonography of the heart, lungs and abdomen, the POC Ultrasonography recently includes also cases in prehospital care. Increasingly special applications in intensive care, e.g. the assessment of weaning from mechanical ventilation or evaluation of the hemodynamics of a patient by means of sonographic control, gain meaning.The German Society for Internistic Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine e. V. (DGIIN), the German society for Ultrasound in Medicine e. V. (DEGUM) and the German Society of Cardiology e. V. (DGK) recently published a common recommendation for a training concept in POC Ultrasonography. The aim is quality assurance and accordingly the improvement of patient care in emergency- and intensive care.