Focused Acute Medicine Ultrasound (FAMUS) - point of care ultrasound for the Acute Medical Unit.

Point of care ultrasound (POCU) is becoming increasingly popular as an extension to clinical examination techniques. Specific POCU training pathways have been developed in specialties such as Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine (CORE Emergency Ultrasound and Core UltraSound Intensive Care, for example), but until this time there has not been a curriculum for the acutely unwell medical patient outside of Critical Care. We describe the development of Focused Acute Medicine Ultrasound (FAMUS), a curriculum designed specifically for the Acute Physician to learn ultrasound techniques to aid in the management of the unwell adult patient.

Picture quiz: a bad case of the flu (answers).

Our case highlights an uncommon complication of nasogastric tube insertion. Enteral feeding plays an essential role in recovery from critical illness. Benefits include increasing blood flow.

Picture quiz: a bad case of the flu.

A 51-year-old man who was normally fit and well, presented with a one-week history of fever, cough, shortness of breath, myalgia and diarrhoea. On examination he was febrile at 37.8°C, acutely short of breath with oxygen saturations of 75% on 15L of oxygen via a non re-breath mask and a respiratory rate of 25.