Andrew P. Walden

Andrew P. Walden

Affiliations: Consultant Acute and Intensive Care Medicine, Royal Berkshire Hospital

All Journals from Andrew P. Walden

A UK wide survey on attitudes to point of care ultrasound training amongst clinicians working on the Acute Medical Unit

Abstract

The use of point of care ultrasound (POCU) is increasing across a number of specialties, becoming mandatory within some specialist training programmes (for example respiratory and emergency medicine). Despite this, there are few data looking at the prevalence of use or the training clinicians have undertaken; this survey sought to address this. It shows that the majority of POCU undertaken on the Acute Medical Unit (AMU) is without formal accreditation, with significant barriers to training highlighted including a lack of supervision, time and equipment. For those who undertook POCU, it was shown to regularly speed up clinical decision making, while 76.3% respondents believed a lack of access to POCU out of hours may affect patient safety. The data provide support to the concept of developing AMU specific POCU accreditation, to ensure robust and safe use of this modality on the AMU.

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Abnormal Lung Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) in Suspected Cases of COVID-19 pneumonia with Normal Plain Chest Radiographs – A Case Series

COVID-19 pneumonia produces a heterogeneous array of clinical, biochemical, and radiological findings. Over the last few months of global hurry to optimize a testing strategy, it has been suggested that bedside point-of-care lung ultrasound may have a diagnostic role. We present 3 patients with RT-PCR nasopharyngeal swab-confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia, who had an admission plain chest film reported to be normal by a consultant radiologist, but with significant sonographic abnormalities on bedside ultrasound performed within 24 hours of the chest radiograph. Lung ultrasound may better correlate with the oxygen requirement and overall condition of the patient than chest radiograp

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Curriculum mapping for Focused Acute Medicine Ultrasound (FAMUS)

Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) in the hands of the non-radiologist has seen a steady growth in popularity amongst emergency, intensive care and acute medical physicians. Increased accessibility to portable, purpose-built ultrasound machines has meant that clinicians often have access to a safe and non-invasive tool to enhance their management of the unwell.

Focused Acute Medicine Ultrasound (FAMUS)

Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) has seen steady growth in its use and applications in aiding clinicians in the management of acutely unwell patients. Focused Acute Medicine Ultrasound (FAMUS) is the standard created specifically for Acute Medicine physicians and is endorsed by the Society for Acute Medicine and recognised by the Acute Internal Medicine (AIM) training committee as a specialist skill.

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Focused Acute Medicine Ultrasound (FAMUS) – point of care ultrasound for the Acute Medical Unit

Point of care ultrasound (POCU) is becoming increasingly popular as an extension to clinical examination techniques. Specific POCU training pathways have been developed in specialties such as Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine (CORE Emergency Ultrasound and Core UltraSound Intensive Care, for example), but until this time there has not been a curriculum for the acutely unwell medical patient outside of Critical Care. We describe the development of Focused Acute Medicine Ultrasound (FAMUS), a curriculum designed specifically for the Acute Physician to learn ultrasound techniques to aid in the management of the unwell adult patient. We detail both the outline of the curriculum and the process involved for a candidate to achieve FAMUS accreditation. It is anticipated this will appeal to both Acute Medical Unit (AMU) clinicians and general physicians who deal with the unwell or deteriorating medical or surgical patient. In time, the aspiration is for FAMUS to become a core part of the AIM curriculum.

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