Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2016 Nov;18(11):677-679.

Point-of-Care Ultrasound in a Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Surgery

Affiliations
  • PMID: 28466618
Observational Study

Point-of-Care Ultrasound in a Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Surgery

Efrat Avinadav et al. Isr Med Assoc J. 2016 Nov.

Abstract

Background: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is becoming a common tool for routine use in emergency medicine, anesthesiology and intensive care for diagnostic and interventional purposes. When a portable ultrasound device became available for the department of Pediatric and Adolescent Surgery at the Schneider's Children Medical Center of Israel, we added POCUS assessments to the physician's daily rounds. POCUS is performed by pediatric surgeons trained in basic ultrasonography skills. Starting September 2015 all POCUS examinations were documented.

Objectives: To describe the current use, diagnostic and therapeutic impacts of POCUS in a department of pediatric and adolescent surgery.

Methods: We conducted an observational study of all the documented POCUS procedures performed during a half-year period. Data regarding patient condition and the POCUS procedures were collected, as well as data on the use of other diagnostic modalities, mainly formal ultrasound exams (by radiologists) and computed tomography scans and their correlation with the POCUS assessment.

Results: Fifty-one POCUS exams were performed during the study period, most of which served to define the presence and resolution of a collection - intraabdominal (34%) and subcutaneous (31%). Despite a high rate for formal diagnostic studies (65%), probably due to a relative lack of confidence of surgeons performing the POCUS exams during this initial period, most results (92%) were compatible.

Conclusions: The ability and availability to perform multiple POCUS exams by the attending physician proved to be a valuable aide to the classical physical and laboratory examinations of surgical patients, and we predict its increasing use in quotidian practice.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources