Advantages of Point of Care Ultrasound over Traditional Imaging

Ultrasound has been found to be a valuable diagnostic tool for ruling in or out serious and common medical conditions. The advent of Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) provides trained primary care providers the technology to gather immediate data for clinical decision making and to move patient care down the correct clinical pathway in a timely and more cost effective manner. This tool has been shown to assist in motivational interviewing by giving real time evidence to the patient. This technology has the potential to significantly enhance access for patients in rural communities where diagnostic centers and specialty care can be geographically and financially challenging. The purpose of this retrospective study is to identify the benefits of the use of handheld ultrasound versus in the rural Primary Care setting to rule in/rule out specific diagnoses: The scope of diagnoses or ruled out pathologies for the purpose of this study will consist of the following: Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)/Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA)/Joint Effusion/Hydronephrosis/ Tendinopathy/ Thyroid disease/ Cysts--specifically subdural or liver cyst/Rotator cuff injury/ Cholecystitis. POCUS was introduced in the Hudson Headwaters Network in 2015 when the Network purchased units for their primary and urgent care clinics and trained clinicians began providing this service at no cost to patients. This quality improvement project is a retrospective chart review to document time to diagnosis, time to initiation of intervention if appropriate, any additional diagnostic evaluation, related subspecialty referrals and care and location of any out of office care provided in relation to site where POCUS was performed.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1419/thumbnail.jp