Proficiency in basic lung ultrasound is highly recommended for clinicians in general and internal medicine. This article will review and provide guidance for novice users on how to use lung ultrasound in clinical practice, through a pathology-oriented approach. The authors recommend a 12-zone protocol and describe how to perform and apply it in clinical practice while examining patients with clinical suspicion for the following diseases: pleural effusion, heart failure, pneumonia (bacterial and viral), interstitial lung disease, and pneumothorax.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) helps emergency department (ED) physicians make prompt and appropriate decisions, but the optimal diagnostic integration and potential clinical benefits remain unclear. We describe the protocol and statistical analysis plan for a randomized controlled trial. The objective is to determine the effect of a POCUS-driven diagnostic pathway in adult dyspneic ED patients on the proportion of patients having a hospital stay of less than 24 hours when compared to the standard diagnostic pathway.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: This scoping review was conducted to provide an overview of the evidence of point-of-care lung ultrasound (LUS) in emergency medicine. By emphasizing clinical topics, time trends, study designs, and the scope of the primary outcomes, a map is provided for physicians and researchers to guide their future initiatives.
Research Question: Which study designs and primary outcomes are reported in published studies of LUS in emergency medicine?
Study Design And Methods: We performed a systematic search in the PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane Library databases for LUS studies published prior to May 13, 2023.
Background: Physicians tend to overestimate patients' pretest probability of having bacteremia. The low yield of blood cultures and contaminants is associated with significant financial cost, as well as increased length of stay and unnecessary antibiotic treatment.
Objective: This study examined the abilities of the National Early Warning Score (NEWS), the Quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA), the Modified Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (mSOFA), and two versions of the causal probabilistic network, SepsisFinder™ (SF) to predict bacteremia in adult emergency department (ED) patients.
Background: In this study we aimed to assess if a focused lung ultrasound examination predicts the need for mechanical ventilation, admission to an intensive care unit, high-flow oxygen treatment, death from COVID-19 within 30 days and 30-day all-cause mortality in patients with clinical suspicion of COVID-19 or PCR-verified SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Methods: A multicentre prospective cohort trial was performed. Film clips from focused lung ultrasound examinations were recorded and rated by blinded observers using different scoring systems.
Introduction: To improve the outcomes of dyspnoeic patients, it is potentially important to determine the influence of uncertain diagnostic aetiology and to characterise this patient group. A change in diagnosis from emergency department (ED) contact to hospital discharge (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Emergency department (ED) patients present with complaints and not diagnoses. Characterization and risk stratification based on can therefore help clinicians improve ED workflow and clinical outcome. In this study we investigated the 30-day mortality and readmission among ED patients based on chief complaint.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The use of simulation-based team training has increased over the past decades. Simulation-based team training within emergency medicine and critical care contexts is best known for its use by trauma teams and teams involved in cardiac arrest. In the domain of emergency medicine, simulation-based team training is also used for other typical time-critical clinical presentations.
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