Learning strategies of general practitioners striving to achieve point-of-care ultrasound competence: a qualitative study.

Background: Point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) is increasingly used in general practice despite the lack of official educational programmes or guidelines for general practitioners (GPs).

Aim: To explore how GPs have learnt to use POCUS and which barriers they have encountered in their learning process.

Design And Setting: Qualitative study conducted in office-based general practice in Denmark.

Association between serum potassium levels and short-term mortality in patients with atrial fibrillation or flutter co-treated with diuretics and rate- or rhythm-controlling drugs.

Aims: We investigated the association between potassium levels and 90-day all-cause mortality in atrial fibrillation or flutter (AF) patients co-treated with diuretics and rate- or rhythm-controlling drugs.

Methods And Results: During 2000-12, first-time AF patients treated with beta-blockers, amiodarone, sotalol, verapamil, or digoxin combined with any diuretic within 90 days post-AF discharge were included. Following co-treatment, a potassium measurement within 90 days after initiating diuretic treatment was required.

Ambulatory assessment of colonic motility using the electromagnetic capsule tracking system.

Background: The Motilis 3D-Transit system tracks electromagnetic capsules as they traverse the gastrointestinal tract. The method is minimally invasive and ambulatory. Analysis has previously been limited to regional gut transit times, but new methods may allow detailed analysis of colonic motility.