Point-of-care ultrasound: Is it time to include it in the paediatric specialist training programme?

Abstract

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has become an essential tool for clinical practice in recent years. It should be considered as an extension of the standard physical examination, which complements and enriches it without substituting it. POCUS enables the physician to answer specific clinical questions about the diagnosis, to understand better the pathophysiological context, to orientate the treatment, and to perform invasive procedures more safely. Despite its current use in many centres, and in most paediatric sub-specialties, there are currently no specific recommendations addressing educational aims in the different training areas, as well as methodology practice and the certification process in paediatrics. These ingredients are essential for POCUS implementation in daily practice, with a quality guarantee in terms of efficiency and safety.Several POCUS experts in different paediatric medicine environments performed a non-systematic review addressing the main paediatric POCUS applications in paediatrics. The lack of educational programmes in POCUS in Spain is also discussed, and the experience in the United States of America in this topic is provided.Considering the current situation of POCUS in paediatrics, we strongly believe that it is urgent to establish evidence-based recommendations for POCUS training that should be the base to develop educational programmes and to include POCUS in the paediatric residency training.