Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Training for Anesthesiologists: Is it Time to Embrace and Attain Competency?

Abstract

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Point‐of‐care ultrasound use in emergencies: what every anaesthetist should know

“…Archiving of POCUS images facilitates quality improvement and presents an opportunity to improve one's skills by reviewing imaging acquired at a later date with a local or long distance mentor [27]. Archiving of images can be a barrier for anaesthetists since most are not experts in this area [12]. Maintaining secure image archiving is essential for ensuring patient privacy in accordance with privacy legislation [12].…”

“…Despite the evolution of POCUS from niche field to core skill [12], there remain multiple barriers to POCUS use, both in anaesthesia and other resuscitation specialties (e.g. emergency medicine [19], critical care [20] and general surgery [21]).…”

“…Archiving of images can be a barrier for anaesthetists since most are not experts in this area [12]. Maintaining secure image archiving is essential for ensuring patient privacy in accordance with privacy legislation [12]. Images can be archived on the ultrasound device, in a departmental academic archive, or institutional picture archiving and communication system.…”

“…Because anaesthetists are familiar with ultrasound practice for skills such as central venous catheter and arterial line placement, its use is not a cognitive or motor leap. Because of this familiarity with ultrasound, anaesthetists have superior ability to expand POCUS skills into the peri-operative realm [12]. Patient consent for learning scans should always be obtained, and risks of identifying new findings requiring further workup must be disclosed.…”

“…Finally, the last decade has also seen the development of a structured approach to POCUS use. For example, the introduction of POCUS into the Canadian Anesthesiology National Curriculum [11] and more training and certification programmes becoming available for practising anaesthetists [12,13]. With the introduction of guidelines for training and competence [14,15], it is becoming easier for anaesthetists to master the skills of POCUS.…”