Point-of-care ultrasound rapidly and reliably diagnoses renal tract obstruction in patients admitted with acute kidney injury.

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is increasingly being used in the management of the acutely unwell patient. Its role in the breathless and shocked patient is well established, but less so for those patients with acute kidney injury (AKI). This local quality improvement project looked at the diagnostic accuracy of a protocolised POCUS versus departmental ultrasound.

Should point-of-care ultrasound become part of healthcare worker testing for COVID?

The NHS in England has rapidly expanded staff testing for COVID-19 in order to allow healthcare workers who would otherwise be isolating with symptoms suspicious of COVID-19 to be cleared to work. However, the high false negative rate associated with current RT-PCR tests could put other staff, family members and patients at risk. We believe combining swab testing with real-time lung ultrasound (LUS) would improve the ability to rule-in COVID-19 infection in those requiring screening.

Can the use of an age-adjusted D-dimer cut-off value help in our diagnosis of suspected pulmonary embolism? .

Safe exclusion of pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common problem in acute medicine. Common care pathways usually involve the use of a pre-test probability score with a D-dimer test to aid clinical decision-making. Unfortunately, the specificity of many D-dimer assays decreases with age.

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS): unnecessary gadgetry or evidence-based medicine?

Over the last decade there has been increasing interest and enthusiasm in point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) as an aide to traditional examination techniques in assessing acutely unwell adult patients. However, it currently remains the domain of a relatively small handful of physicians within the UK. There are numerous reasons for this, notably a lack of training pathways and supervisors but also a lack of understanding of the evidence base behind this imaging modality.

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.

Opportunistic health checks in a retail environment.

Cardiovascular disease remains common and accounts for many deaths, but primary cardiovascular risk factors are consistently underdiagnosed in the UK. NHS health checks are being implemented nationally in the next five years, targeting those aged 40 to 74 years, and many primary care trusts have commissioned health checks to be carried out opportunistically as an outreach programme in public places to aid uptake and improve access. However, there is little published evidence on the effectiveness and subsequent follow-up rates in such a model.