Global Health: 3 Case Studies Show the Value of POCUS in Resource-Limited Healthcare

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. …
WCUME17 POCUS Chat: Interview with Dr. Peter Steinmetz - PT. 2
Dr. Peter Steinmetz, co-chair of WCUME 2017 and Director of Undergraduate Bedside Ultrasound Teaching at McGill University answers questions around the use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) and ensuring its proper use worldwide.
You can listen to the audio interview with Dr. Steinmetz here. …
Sonosite Portable Ultrasound at the Spartan Race

From July 1-2, the Morzine ski resort in Savoy, France hosted the Spartan Race, an obstacle course open to all physical abilities and all levels. Competitors from all over Europe took part in the event. …
Battling Opioid Over-Prescription from Inside the ED

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. …
Global Health: Fujifilm Sonosite Machines Assist Puerto Rican Recovery

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.
FUJIFILM Sonosite has contributed four M-Turbos to the medical recovery efforts, and Dr. Tirado sent us an update on his work with medical patients on the island. He is being escorted by helicopter to the most at-need regions and in the image below he is using the Sonosite iViz to perform a FAST scan on a patient.
…
The Changing Face of Anaesthesia

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. …
Sonosite Celebrates 10 Years in India

When Sonosite began direct operations in India in 2007, our mission was to expand our company’s vision into new territories. India, a market that both enamors and confounds economists, seemed ripe to embrace the fundamental pillars that make Sonosite a company with whom it is worth doing the business. India, a market that both enamors and confounds economists, seemed ripe to embrace the fundamental pillars that make Sonosite a company with whom it is worth doing business with. …
POCUS Profile: Dr. Torsten Müller

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. Torsten Müller is the medical head of rescue services for Kassel, Germany, overseeing pre-hospital care functions for a system that currently runs 65 ambulances and a helicopter, as well as six emergency doctors’ cars that have recently been equipped with FUJIFILM Sonosite iViz systems. Dr. …
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 imageing 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. …
POC Ultrasound Testing Speeds Diagnosis, Safety at the Bedside

Physicians today face a multitude of ever evolving challenges, and one thing we’ve seen is an increase in the demand for educational sessions covering the latest in ultrasound. Dr. …
8 Ways to Avoid Central Line Placement Complications

Central line complications: they’re risky, costly, and all-around burden to healthcare. Whether it’s CLABSIs or iatrogenic pneumothoraces, CVC complications are not just terrifying for patients and unnerving for doctors; they are also costly for medical facilities.
Fortunately, there are tested methods for Iatrogenic Pneumothorax Prevention with POCUS that can drastically reduce complication rates (and associated costs) for critically ill patients who require venous catheterization. …
3 Steps to Getting Buy-In For Your Ultrasound Programme

Anyone who has ever tried to change the way medicine is practised knows that inertia makes it difficult to get buy-in from colleagues and administrators. Introducing a relatively familiar technology, like point-of-care ultrasound, into a broader hospital setting might not seem like a difficult task, but all procedural changes face some kind of resistance.In Germany, physicians at the Evangelisches Krankenhaus have been able to expand the application of POCUS through multiple wards using three methods. …
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. …
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. …
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. …
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.
…
Ultrasound-Guided Vascular Access Programme 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 programme 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".
…
Six Secrets of Implementing Ultrasound in Paediatric Emergency Medicine
Becker's Hospital Review
Russ Horowitz, MD, RDMS
Ultrasound is an important tool for rapid assessment of trauma patients, CVC and regional nerve block placement, facilitating difficult PIV access, and assessing cardiac function during resuscitations. In this article, Russ Horowitz, MD, RDMS, discusses six strategies to help implement ultrasound at the bedside in paediatric emergency medicine.
…
Proposed CMS Hospital Outpatient Department Rule Detrimental for Imaging Services in CY 2017
Healthcare Business News
Jill Rathbun, Managing Partner at Galileo Consulting Group, Arlington, VA
In this article for DOTmed News, Jill Rathbun discusses the proposed CMS hospital outpatient department rule and how it will impact imaging services in CY 2017. Read more to understand how payments may be restructured to reduce the total number of classifications.
…
Performance-Based Payment & Orthopedics: A Focus For The Medicare Program
Becker's Hospital CFO
Jill Rathbun, Managing Partner at Galileo Consulting Group, Arlington, VA
In this informative article for Becker's CFO, Jill Rathbun covers the newly implemented CMS Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement payment model. While the program began April 1, 2016, many of the hospitals were not, and are still not, prepared to participate. Read more to understand the basics of the model and how to be successful.
…