Category Archives: Care

Incorporating POCUS into PA Education

Care, Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Medicine, PA, Physician Assistant, POCUS, Primary Care, Proficiency, Uncategorized

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About Our Guests

Amy Roberts, PhD, MS, PA-C, graduated from Hofstra University with a Bachelor of Science and earned her Physician Assistant certificate in 2010. She then went on to earn a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies in December 2014 from Pace University and a PhD in Leadership from University of the Cumberlands in 2021. Amy has been working with the Hofstra Physician Assistant Program since 2012 and has been working in primary care since she graduated. Prior to becoming a PA Amy worked in radiology for more than 10 years. She continues to work in primary care with the goal of making a positive impact on the healthcare field.

Christine Zammit, MS, PA-C, has been a practicing PA for 20 years. For the past 8 years, she has held a full-time faculty appointment at the Hofstra University PA Program. In addition to her role in academia, she maintains an active clinical practice in the pediatric intensive care unit at an inner-city hospital.

Physician Assistants Pursue POCUS Training

Care, Career, Diagnostic, Education, Physician Assistant, POCUS, Training

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Nicole Reichhart, PA-C, is Assistant Professor and didactic faculty for the California State University, Monterey Bay Master of Science Physician Assistant program. She earned a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Albany Medical College in 2012 and completed an Emergency Medicine fellowship at Eastern Virginia Medical School in 2013. She has piloted a point-of-care ultrasound curriculum throughout the didactic phase of the MSPA program, preparing the students to enter their clinical year with a vast POCUS skillset. Nicole embeds POCUS into both the anatomy and physiology and clinical skills courses. She is passionate about implementing point-of-care ultrasound in physician assistant school curriculum and providing her students with opportunities to collaborate in the shared mission of improving global health and setting standards for excellence in POCUS. She has nine years of clinical experience as a PA, much of which has been in caring for patients in underserved communities. Nicole is a military spouse, mother of three children under 5, and enjoys a good brunch.

Overcoming POCUS Plateaus

Care, Diagnostic, Education, Internal Medicine, POCUS, Research, Training

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Andre Kumar, MD, MEd, is a clinical assistant professor of internal medicine at Stanford University. He is the director for the Stanford Medicine Procedure Service, President of the Society of Hospital Medicine Bay Area, and an instructor for the Society of Hospital Medicine POCUS Certification Program. Dr. Kumar is passionate about researching POCUS for patient care and guiding future accreditation. He is currently the lead investigator for a multi-institutional study involving the use of POCUS for COVID-19, and he recently published two randomized trials investigating how to optimally train resident physicians with POCUS.

Resources

This study found that while a 2-day hands-on ultrasound course provides internal medicine physicians with an initial understanding of POCUS, there are barriers in transferring these abilities to clinical practice.

Find out how an interprofessional, near-peer workshop can help internal medicine residents develop POCUS skills, especially in programs where faculty expertise is limited.

Learn what will help residents overcome the barrier of unfamiliarity with documenting ultrasounds for diagnostic decision-making.

Discover how a phased implementation of POCUS curriculums has proven successful and could inform future educational programs.

Visit us at POCUS.org.

POCUS Augments Critical Care Nursing Diagnostics

Care, Career, Critical Care, Diagnostic, Nursing, POCUS

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Leon Chen, DNP, is a board certified acute care nurse practitioner with background in critical care medicine. He is the clinical program manager of research and simulated learning for the department of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at memorial Sloan Kettering cancer center, and a clinical assistant professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. He is a strong proponent of utilizing point of care ultrasonography to rapidly delineate differential diagnoses and to guide resuscitation. Leon is also a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and the NY Academy of Medicine. He serves on the editorial board of Critical Care Nursing Quarterly and the Journal of American Association of Nurse Practitioners. He earned a certificate of completion in critical care ultrasonography from the American College of Chest Physicians and is active in point of care ultrasonography education.

 

Resources

Read this study about how nurses’ use of ultrasound enhanced the diagnostic process and level of care heart failure patients receive at an outpatient clinic.

Examine this review of 11 full-text publications and 10 conference abstracts found that patients experience positive benefits when renal nurses and technicians use POCUS. Learn more here.

Discover why the Canadian Association of Radiologists Position Statement on Point-of-Care Ultrasound also relates to nurse practitioners and other health care providers who use POCUS.

POCUS Enhances Healthcare in Remote Regions

Care, Global, POCUS, Uncategorized

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Carrie Hayes, MHS, PA-C, RDMS, RVT, is an Interventional Radiology Physician Assistant for Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, California and has over fifteen years of experience as a Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer and Vascular Technologist.

Additionally, she currently serves as the Clinical director for RAD-AID International, a radiology non-profit organization whose mission is to improve and optimize access to medical imaging and radiology in low resource regions of the world.

 

POCUS: The Modality for Advanced Nursing

Care, Medicine, POCUS, Uncategorized

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<p/ align=’justify’>Dr. Thomas Kelly, CRNA is an advanced practice nurse who holds certification as a Nurse Anesthetist and holds a doctorate in Nursing Practice. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in 1978 and has pursued his education to the highest level, serving as an Assistant Professor of Nurse Anesthesia Science and Assistant Director of Nurse Anesthesia in Thomas Jefferson University’s Master’s program. Dr. Kelly now serves as a senior member of the NeuroScience Intervention team. This team has members on call 24 hours a day ready to intervene in acute neurologic stroke attacks, and at times, able to markedly reduce the resultant brain injury caused by thrombotic stroke.

Improving Global Health Through POCUS25

Care, Career, Change, Education, Medicine, POCUS, Proficiency, Uncategorized

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Dr. Victor Rao is a radiologist and POCUS pioneer who first introduced POCUS to future medical professionals at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine (USCSOM). Here, he developed the POCUS curriculum, and the POCUS learning and eLearning content geared towards medical and physician assistant students. Dr. Rao went on to present POCUS to the Arusha Lutheran Medical Center in Tanzania and the University of Santo Thomas in Manila, Philippines. His passions are ultrasound and point-of-care ultrasound.

How Technology is Changing POCUS

Care, Change, Education, Future, Medicine, POCUS, , , ,

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Thomas Baribeault is the founder of the Society for Opioid-Free Anesthesia (SOFA) and is currently serving as President. SOFA is a non-profit organization dedicated to education and research on opioid-free anesthesia and post-operative pain management. Thomas currently practices in Atlanta, Georgia and is responsible for implementing opioid free anesthesia and post-operative pain protocols. He received a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the Ohio State University, a Master of Science in nursing and anesthesia residency from Case Western Reserve University and a doctorate in nursing practice and pain management fellowship from the University of South Florida.

 

Additional Resources

  1. Don’t miss our blog on how the evolution of POCUS technology continues to advance perioperative care. (need link to blog)
  2. Read the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine’s (ASRA) statement on why POCUS technology continues to be an innovative tool.
  3. Learn about the Top 10 Perioperative Applications of Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Anesthesiologists.
  4. Here are recommendations for Acquiring and maintaining point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) competence for anesthesiologists.
  5. Take a reflective look back at how far we’ve come in POCUS for Perioperative Point-of-Care Ultrasonography.

Mental Health for Healthcare Professionals

Care, Career, Global, POCUS

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Katie Wiskar, MD, is an academic general internist working at Vancouver General Hospital in Vancouver, Canada. She recently completed a year of dedicated POCUS fellowship including training in Western University’s prestigious Critical Care Ultrasound program. Her POCUS passions include all things echocardiography, clinical integration of ultrasound findings, and correcting common POCUS myths and misunderstandings.