A 64 year old woman presents to the emergency department with dyspnea. On exam she is mildly tachypneic, has an oxygen saturation of 94% on 2L nasal prongs, and bilateral crackles to auscultation. You suspect acute heart failure and wonder about the role of lung ultrasound as you await her chest x-ray. Clinical question: What is the sensitivity and specificity of lung PoCUS compared to chest radiograph for diagnosis of acute decompensated …
PoCUS Previews 03: Intro to the FAST Scan
Welcome back to PoCUS Previews, your illustrated guide to the world of Point of Care Ultrasound (PoCUS)! In the hands of a skilled sonographer, PoCUS can serve as a valuable tool while assessing a patient in trauma. PoCUS can quickly and fairly accurately detect blood loss and signal the presence of internal organ damage. Thus, the Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST) scan is one of the most celebrated uses of PoCUS …
PoCUS Previews 02: Intro to Image Generation
Welcome back to PoCUS Previews, your illustrated guide to the world of Point of Care Ultrasound (PoCUS)! This month’s infographic will focus on image and probe orientation, different probe movements that can be used to generate these images, and some common artifacts (or abnormal alterations in ultrasound images). Ultrasound images can be challenging to interpret when we consider their dynamic nature and varying conventions that surround them. This infographic breaks down the orientation …
PoCUS Previews 01: Intro to PoCUS
Welcome to PoCUS Previews; CanadiEM’s newest infographic series! Ultrasound (US) is an imaging modality that uses high frequency soundwaves and their reflection to produce real time images of various structures within the human body. In Emergency Medicine, small portable US machines can be used to gain an abundance of clinical insight that can ultimately aid in diagnosis. However, generating and interpreting these images can be quite challenging. PoCUS Previews aims to simplify Point …
Handheld Ultrasound – A Review of the VScan
As it seems to be ultrasound month on BoringEM (see the guest posts from Paul Olszynski here: A Pictorial Approach to Ultrasound in Shock and Chris Byrne here: Point of Care Ultrasound: A Hyperechoic Future in Med Ed), I thought I’d chime in with a review of my new toy. I just completed a four week rotation at a regional ED that is not equipped with an ultrasound unit. Fortunately, my residency program purchased a GE VScan handheld ultrasound machine for …
Point of care ultrasound: a hyperechoic future in Med Ed?
A little over a year ago, I was working a shift in the emergency department when I noticed an enthusiastic consultant briskly wheeling a portable ultrasound machine to a patient’s bedside. I introduced myself and asked if I could observe the scan. Until this point, ultrasound had retained a certain mystique. However, that was quickly erased by a deep, yet efficient, bedside lesson in anatomy, physiology and clinical medicine that left a lasting …