Neonatal point-of-care ultrasound-steps for program development

Abstract

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is increasingly being utilized in the neonatal field; however, there is a lack of standardized guidance on the development of POCUS programs in neonatology. While subspecialties with decades of POCUS experience have established pathways for program development and training guidelines, such frameworks are absent in neonatal and perinatal medicine. Recent national and international publications have highlighted the need for structured program development and have established recommendations regarding standards for POCUS use, including minimum number of scans, competency-based assessments, and a strong quality improvement (QI) framework. This publication aims to provide steps toward program development for neonatal intensive care units eager to establish POCUS to augment the care of their patients.

Fig. 1. POCUS workflow example to local storage database.

Biomed biomedicine, CPT current procedural terminology, EMR electronic medical record, IT information technology, PACS picture archiving and communication system, POCUS point-of-care ultrasound, QA quality assurance, US ultrasound, used with permission from Chan et al. Am J Perinatol, 2024.