Türkiye’deki Yenidoğan Hekimlerinin Klinik Ultrasonografi Kullanımı ve Bakışının Değerlendirildiği Ulusal Anket Çalışması

Abstract

Introduction: There is no information about the clinical ultrasonography (US) use, opinion and experiences in neonatal physicians in Turkey. The aim of our study is to evaluate the attitudes, preferences, frequency of use and perspectives of neonatal physicians in our country regarding clinical use of US. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted through a survey with the participation of neonatal physicians in Turkey with electronically between 1 February to 1 March 2020. The information about participants’ age, gender, type of institution, experience period in neonatal intensive care and academic title were recorded. The participants were asked questions such as whether they use US in the clinic, if they are using, which part of body and for which intervention, and whether they received training for this purpose. The attitudes about Clinical US were evaluated using a 5-point Likert scale. Results: 120 neonatal physicians participated in the study. The average age of the participants was determined as 40.38 ± 5.24 years. While 90% (n=108) of the participants had US devices in their clinics, the use of frequency of US among the participants was found as 69.1% (n=83). There was no difference between groups in the answers according to academic title about US device availability in the clinic, use of, participation in clinical US training, pediatric radiology rotation in the neonatal fellow education program,use of US for cranial US, abdominal US and central vein catheterization (p>0,05). Lung US use was found at a significantly higher rate in the neonatology fellows group (86.7%) compared to other academic titles (p<0.05). Conclusions: The study is the first national study in its field. It has been determined that US, which has an important role in the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of the critically ill group in Turkey, is not used effectively by neonatal physicians.