The Portable Powerhouse: A Review of Current Applications of Point-of-care Ultrasound in Emergency Medicine
Main Article Content
Abstract
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is used by Emergency Department (ED) providers to screen patients for significant medical decompensations. This article seeks to review POCUS’s many applications in the ED. Embedded are two cases that illustrate the power of POCUS to quickly identify and monitor life threats. The review ends with a discussion contextualizing the subjective role of POCUS in providing patient-centered care.
Article Details
How to Cite
HOKE, Jerome Bruce.
The Portable Powerhouse: A Review of Current Applications of Point-of-care Ultrasound in Emergency Medicine.
Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 13, n. 5, may 2025.
ISSN 2375-1924.
Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/6509>. Date accessed: 21 june 2025.
doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v13i5.6509.
Section
Review Articles
The Medical Research Archives grants authors the right to publish and reproduce the unrevised contribution in whole or in part at any time and in any form for any scholarly non-commercial purpose with the condition that all publications of the contribution include a full citation to the journal as published by the Medical Research Archives.
References
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2. Gottlieb M, Cooney R, King A, et al. Trends in point-of-care ultrasound use among emergency medicine residency programs over a 10-year period. AEM Educ Train. 2023;7(2):e10853.
3. Ultrasound Guidelines: Emergency, Point-of-care, and Clinical Ultrasound Guidelines in Medicine. ACEP Policy Statement. Revised April 2023.
4. Mai T, Woo M, Boles K, et al. Point of care ultrasound performed by a medical student compared to physical examination by vascular surgeons in the detection of abdominal aortic aneurysms. Ann Vasc Surg. 2018; 52:15-21
5. Gottlieb M, Avila J, Chottiner M, et al. Point-of-care ultrasonography for the diagnosis of skin and soft tissue abscesses: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Emerg Med. 2020; 76:67-77
6. Bergmann K, Arroyo A, Tessaro, M, et al. Diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care ultrasound for intussusception: a multicenter, noninferiority study of paired diagnostic tests. Ann Emerg Med. 2021; 78:606-615
7. Lin-Martore M, Kornblith A, Kohn M et al. Diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care ultrasound for intussusception in children presenting to the emergency department: a systematic review and meta-analysis. West J Emerg Med. 2020; 21:1008-1016
8. Park J, Byun Y, Choi S, et al. Feasibility of point-of-care ultrasound for diagnosing hypertrophic pyloric stenosis in the emergency department. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2021; 37:550-554
9. Lamperti M, Bodenham A, Pittiruti M, et al. International evidence-based recommendations on ultrasound-guided vascular access. Intensive Care Med 38, 1105–1117 (2012).
10. Stolz LA, Stolz U, Howe C, et al. Ultrasound-guided peripheral venous access: a meta-analysis and systematic review.J Vasc Access. 2015;16(4):321-326.
11. Mehta N, Valesky W, Guy A, Sinert R. Systematic review: is real-time ultrasonic-guided central line placement by ED physicians more successful than the traditional landmark approach?. Emerg Med J. 2013;30(5):355-359.
12. Gaspari R, Sanseverino A, Gleeson T. Abscess incision and drainage with or without ultrasonography: a randomized controlled trial. Ann Emerg Med. 2019; 73:1-7
13. Nazeer S, Dewbre H, Miller A. Ultrasound-assisted paracentesis performed by emergency physicians vs the traditional technique: a prospective, randomized study. Am J Emerg Med. 2005;23(3):363-367.
14. Mercaldi C, Lanes S. Ultrasound guidance decreases complications and improves the cost of care among patients undergoing thoracentesis and paracentesis. Chest. 2013;143(2):532-538.
15. Goldsmith A, Driver L, Duggan N, et al. Complication Rates After Ultrasonography-Guided Nerve Blocks Performed in the Emergency Department. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(11):e2444742.
16. Gu J, Cotarelo A, Samarneh M. Complications of Ultrasound-Guided Peripheral Nerve Blocks in the Emergency Department: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. 2025.
17. Montrief T, Alerhand S, Jewell C, Scott J. Incorporation of Transcranial Doppler into the ED for the neurocritical care patient. Am J Emerg Med. 2019;37(6):1144-1152.
18. Arntfield R, Pace J, Hewak M, Thompson D. Focused Transesophageal Echocardiography by Emergency Physicians is Feasible and Clinically Influential: Observational Results from a Novel Ultrasound Program. J Emerg Med.2016;50(2):286-294.
19. Reardon RF, Chinn E, Plummer D, et al. Feasibility, utility, and safety of fully incorporating transesophageal echocardiography into emergency medicine practice. Acad Emerg Med. 2022;29(3):334-343.
20. Teran F, Dean AJ, Centeno C, et al. Evaluation of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest using transesophageal echocardiography in the emergency department. Resuscitation. 2019;137:140-147.
21. Matsushima K, Khor D, Berona K, et al. Double Jeopardy in Penetrating Trauma: Get FAST, Get It Right. World J Surg. 2018;42(1):99-106.
22. Perera P, Mailhot T, Riley D, Mandavia D. The RUSH exam: Rapid Ultrasound in Shock in the evaluation of the critically lll. Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2010;28(1):29-vii.
23. Libon J, Ng C, Bailey A, et al. Remote diagnostic imaging using artificial intelligence for diagnosing hip dysplasia in infants: Results from a mixed-methods feasibility pilot study. Paediatr Child Health. 2023;28(5):285-290.
24. Cho H, Song I, Jang J, Yoo Y. A Lightweight Deep Learning Network on a System-on-Chip for Wearable Ultrasound Bladder Volume Measurement Systems: Preliminary Study. Bioengineering (Basel). 2023;10(5):525.
25. Kim S, Fischetti C, Guy M, et al. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Applications for Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) in Low-Resource Settings: A Scoping Review. Diagnostics (Basel). 2024;14(15):1669.