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Did you know that nearly half of all opioid overdoses involve a prescription?

Physicians are beginning to tackle the problem at ground zero: in the ED, where many patients receive their first prescription opioids.

It’s no secret that the U.S. is in the throes of a major heroin epidemic, at least partly caused by the over-prescription of opioid painkillers by well-meaning physicians. When it comes to perioperative pain control, there are new ways to tackle patient discomfort without resorting to prescription opioids.

When you think of manatee migration, you don’t normally picture aircraft.

But that is how Washburn the pregnant manatee was transported from Massachusetts, where she was rescued (just off the coast) to Sea World in Orlando, Florida, where she spent 2 weeks recuperating.

In the world of emergency medicine, there’s nothing fun about the guessing game. With a seriously ill or injured patient, every second counts and the wrong diagnosis can actually have a significant impact on health. That’s why having all available information is absolutely critical to stabilising patients and saving lives.

That’s also what makes point-of-care ultrasound so critically important in emergency care.

Increasingly, anaesthesiologists have been using ultrasound guidance to help visualise soft tissue anatomy and nerve location while performing regional nerve blocks. Correct placement of local anaesthetics lead to long lasting pain management and enhanced recovery times.

But beyond the block, how does ultrasound help anaesthesiologists do their jobs?

The answer has a lot to do with the changing practise of medicine.

Vietnam’s wild elephant population has dropped from over 2,000 animals to less than 100 in 20 years, making the country’s 60 or so captive elephants vital to preserving the genetic lines of this critically endangered species.

Every day, 91 Americans die from opioid (prescription drugs or heroin) overdoses. This is the worst drug epidemic in the history of the United States.

How can emergency physicians help patients manage pain without accidentally getting them addicted to prescription opioids?

If you had to choose between inserting a PICC line (40-45 minutes) and inserting a PIV with ultrasound guidance (5-10 minutes), which would you choose to perform? What if your patient weighed less than 5 lbs? Or more than 500?

What departments are the heaviest users of point-of-care ultrasound in an American-based hospital?

The answer varies from hospital to hospital, but we usually see Emergency Medicine, Cardiology, Critical Care and Anaesthesiology rounding out the heavyweight users of bedside ultrasound.

When Dr. Peter Steinmetz took on the task of ensuring McGill University’s medical school graduates would be proficient in the use of point-of-care ultrasound, he faced numerous challenges, not the least of which was the fact that the undergraduate medical school curriculum was already full.

A Sonosite SII point-of-care ultrasound system recently played a key role in an innovative procedure of thyroid surgery without the use of general anaesthetic.
Dr. Rüdiger Eichholz, a consultant anaesthetist working for private practise in Stuttgart, Germany, explained the case.

There are a lot of things Las Vegas is known for – gambling, over-the-top entertainment, and world-class dining. Now there’s one more thing to add to that list: ACEP 2016 – the leading event for emergency medicine. In a few days, thousands of emergency medical professionals from around the globe will gather for ACEP16, an immersive experience that goes beyond what typical medical conferences offer. So what makes ACEP16 so important?

Dr. Thomas Sullivan recently returned from Quang Nam province in Vietnam, where he had volunteered at a series of clinics in late July, with the assistance of ASSORV through the Vietnam Health Clinic group of the University of Washington.

Dr. Alfredo Tirado is from Florida Hospital in Orlando, and has been leading an emergency response mission in Puerto Rico to help with Hurricane Maria relief.

With constant pressure on healthcare providers to improve the quality and efficiency of care while reducing costs, standardisation of patient management is a logical step towards more streamlined services. Anaesthesia is one area that is beginning to embrace this approach, combining regional nerve blocks with ultrasound guidance to improve both the quality and effectiveness of patient care while minimizing hospital stays.

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is rapidly becoming a crucial tool for emergency medicine in Germany, and it's increasingly common for ambulances and emergency doctor vehicles to be equipped with POCUS systems. Dr.

Anaesthetists working in perioperative medicine have increasingly taken a whole body approach to patient evaluation known as TUBE – Total Ultrasound Body Examination – thanks to the development of point-of-care ultrasound.

by Rich Fabian, Chief Operating Officer, FUJIFILM Sonosite

Point-of-care ultrasound plays an important role in the emergency sector, enabling hospital clinicians and paramedics responding to an urgent call for medical assistance to assess a patient’s condition. Dr Matthew Reed, an Emergency Medicine consultant at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, explains how ultrasound contributes to the management of cardiac arrest: