Category Archives: Diagnostic

Physician Assistants Pursue POCUS Training



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



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



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.


Tracking COVID-19 with Dr. Yale Tung Chen



Yale Tung Chen, MD, is an emergency medicine physician living with an active COVID-19 infection. He currently serves as the Director of the Ultrasound Division at Hospital Universitario La Paz in Madrid, Spain.


The Benefits of POCUS in a Family Practice Setting



 

Dr. Nicole Yedlinsky is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, KS. She received her medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, LA. She completed Family Medicine
Residency at Womack Army Medical Center, Fort Bragg, NC, and Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship at VCU-Fairfax Family Practice, Fairfax, VA.

She practices family medicine, obstetrics, and sports medicine, and utilizes POCUS daily. She is registered in musculoskeletal ultrasonography (RMSK). Dr. Yedlinsky has established POCUS training for the family medicine residents, teaches MSK ultrasound to the sports medicine fellows, and is
developing curriculum for medical student ultrasound training.


Evidence Based POCUS



Listen as author, Dr. Paul Atkinson, discusses the use of point-of-care ultrasound in Emergency Medicine and Resuscitation.

Dr. Paul Atkinson is Professor in Emergency Medicine at Dalhousie University and Saint John Regional Hospital, New Brunswick, Canada. He is the current chair of the provincial Emergency Medicine research committee. Paul is also deputy editor of CJEM, Chief Medical Officer at WorkSafeNB, and is currently VP for ultrasound research for the International Federation for Emergency Medicine (IFEM). He is co-director of the Emergency Critical Care Ultrasound (ECCU) course. His international training included Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia, and Cambridge University Hospitals in the UK. He is the principal investigator and chair of the SHoC ultrasound research network. He has over 80 peer-reviewed publications, as well as being the lead editor on two textbooks, Emergency Medicine an Illustrated Colour Text, 2010; and Point of Care Ultrasound in Emergency Medicine and Resuscitation, 2019. Awards include the inaugural “Best in Class” undergraduate teaching award from Dalhousie University in 2012, and the national Grant Innes Award for Emergency Medicine research in 2014, and the Ian Stiell Researcher of the Year Award from the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, 2019. Current research interests include PoCUS in critical illness, occupational stress injury, medical education, trauma systems, and prevention, as well as quality in medicine. Paul enjoys cycling and hiking in the wide-open spaces of New Brunswick.