Global Health: Ultrasound Expands Access and Improves Maternal Care
Every day, 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. 99% live in rural areas. Many of them could be prevented with proper maternal care including ultrasound imaging during their pregnancy and delivering in a medical clinic. Of those deaths, 40% are due to injuries or conditions related to placenta complications - and the only way to detect abnormal placenta challenges is through an ultrasound exam. …
Ultrasound and Changes in Value-Based Care - Part. 1
Uncertainty – especially in economics, government, or healthcare - can be hard to handle. Combine a little bit of uncertainty in Washington D.C. and the medical community and you’ll have a window into 2017, a time when the future of the Affordable Health Care Act and the health sector is in flux.
Is there a silver lining here? We believe so. 2017 presents an opportunity for healthcare providers to evaluate how technologies like ultrasound can solve their challenges. …
CMS Implements AUC Requirements for Advanced Imaging Services
HealthCare Business News
Jill Rathbun, Managing Partner at Galileo Consulting Group, Arlington, VA
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have finalized the clinical areas that will be part of the new Appropriate Use Criteria requirements for the ordering of MRI, CT, PET and Nuclear Cardiology studies starting January 1, 2018. CMS has selected shoulder pain, including suspected rotator cuff injury, as one of the priority clinical areas. To learn more about these new requirements so that your practice can be prepared on January 1, 2018, please read the following article in the most recent issue of DotMed at Healthcare Business News.
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Point-of-Care Ultrasound Shows Promise for Osgood-Schlatter Diagnosis
Osgood-Schlatter disease is a developmental disorder that causes musculoskeletal problems and is rare in the normal population. However, the condition is more common in teenagers who play sports, affecting an estimated 3-5% percent of this population; it causes painful inflammation below the knee in adolescents and can lead to permanent soft tissue damage. The condition is often diagnosed by MRI, which is both costly and impractical for screening purposes. …
The Range of POCUS: Emergency Rooms to Vascular Access to Intensive Care Training
Did you know that Sonosite’s first mission was to create an ultrasound machine that could be carried into battle? The concept was simple: Get treatment to a trauma victim by giving a frontline clinician an ultrasound machine that could be brought to the patient’s side. Now point-of-care ultrasound is used around the world for an ever growing variety of clinical applications and procedures. Here's three user stories of how Sonosite systems have helped clinicians expand the range of what's possible using portable ultrasound.
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User Stories: Madrid's Emergency Services and Portable Ultrasound
Since point-of-care ultrasound systems were originally designed for dealing with emergencies in a battlefield setting, it's not surprising that ultrasound now plays a pivotal role in emergency vehicles around the world. Dr Ramón de Elías Hernandez, head of on-call doctors at SAMUR, Madrid’s municipal emergency service, describes the advantages that point-of-care ultrasound brings to his everyday life. …
2017 - The Year For Expansion In Ultrasound-Guided Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures
HealthCare Business News
Jill Rathbun, Managing Partner at Galileo Consulting Group, Arlington, VA
With the future of the Affordable Care Act in flux, this may be a time for healthcare providers to evaluate their practices and see how they provide more for their patients and communities. By expanding service offerings, healthcare providers can attract more patients and elevate their patient's level of satisfaction. Read this article to find out how 2017 may be the year for expansion of ultrasound-guided surgical procedures using ultrasound guided breast biopsies as an example.
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Ultrasound-Guided Vascular Access Program Saves St. Joseph's $3.5 Million
Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
Matthew Ostroff, ARNP
The American College of Emergency Physicians issued a policy statement in 2016 advocating a new safety standard for vascular access through the use of ultrasound guidance. St. Joseph's Healthcare System, in Paterson, N.J., launched a program that has yielded significant safety and quality of care improvements for all patients requiring vascular access. This article describes how St. Joseph's cut healthcare costs and improved patient outcomes by achieving the "one-stick standard".
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User Stories: St. Joseph's Reduces Time and Cost with POCUS Vascular Access
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?
When you’re working with some of the smallest, most vulnerable patients, every single needle stick matters more than ever. Whether injecting critical medicine or drawing blood, St. Joseph’s Healthcare System in Paterson, New Jersey, strives to minimize patient pain during needle insertion. …
Reducing The Opioid Epidemic with POC Ultrasound
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? …
User Stories: Point-of-Care Ultrasound Aids Elephant Conservation in Vietnam
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. …
Anesthesia Ultrasound for Perioperative Care - Beyond the Block
The role of the anesthesiologist is evolving to include perioperative care
With hospitals seeking innovative ways to streamline patient care and improve outcomes, anesthesiologists are increasingly expected to provide patient care beyond general anesthesia and nerve blocks. But beyond the block, how does perioperative ultrasound help anesthesiologists do their jobs?
The answer has a lot to do with the changing practice of medicine. …
Beyond the Block: Why Would an Anesthesiologist Use Ultrasound?
Increasingly, anesthesiologists have been using ultrasound guidance to help visualize soft tissue anatomy and nerve location while performing regional nerve blocks. Correct placement of local anesthetics lead to long lasting pain management and enhanced recovery times.
But beyond the block, how does ultrasound help anesthesiologists do their jobs?
The answer has a lot to do with the changing practice of medicine. …
Beyond the Block: Why Would an Anesthesiologist Use Ultrasound?
Increasingly, anesthesiologists have been using ultrasound guidance to help visualize soft tissue anatomy and nerve location while performing regional nerve blocks. Correct placement of local anesthetics lead to long lasting pain management and enhanced recovery times.
But beyond the block, how does ultrasound help anesthesiologists do their jobs?
The answer has a lot to do with the changing practice of medicine. …
Watch the Value of Endobronchial Ultrasound Webinar
Are you a pulmonologist, interventional pulmonologist, or thoracic surgeon? Check out our webinar “Lung Cancer: The State of the Disease,” from the Endoscopy Division of FUJIFILM.
More people die every year from lung cancer than from colon, breast, and prostate cancer combined. In August 2016, we aired “Lung Cancer: The State of the Disease.” It’s a timely and informative webinar led by David Feller-Kopman, MD, Director of Bronchoscopy & Interventional Pulmonology at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and a world-renowned expert in his field. …
Integrating Ultrasound Services Into Your Practice - Five Reasons December 2016 Could Be The Right Time
Becker's Hospital Review
Jill Rathbun, Managing Partner at Galileo Consulting Group, Arlington, VA
Since the election there have been many articles written discussing the future of the Affordable Care Act under a President-Elect Trump Administration and a Republican Congress. It is important that physicians and office administrators understand the real impact by reading this article.
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Ultrasound Answers Questions in Emergency Care in Spain
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 stabilizing patients and saving lives.
That’s also what makes point-of-care ultrasound so critically important in emergency care. …
Fetal Ultrasound of Pregnant SeaWorld Manatee
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. …
Ultrasound Guided Nerve Blocks, Not Opioids, for Post-Operative Pain Management
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. …
Sonosite Institute: Paravertebral Nerve Block Education Module
Log into Sonosite Institute today, and begin your ultrasound-guided paravertebral nerve block education with our new learning module.
This module will show you how to: …