Point-of-Care Ultrasound System Complements Radiology Services

An ever-increasing number of radiologists are looking closely at point-of-care ultrasound to complement traditional radiology services. Used for specific applications and situations, point-of-care scanning allows routine scanning to be performed throughout the hospital by trained non-radiology staff, while freeing up time for sonographers to focus on specialist services.

Dr. Simon Elliott, consultant radiologist and clinical lead in ultrasound at the Freeman Hospital (Newcastle, UK), explained how his own radiology department is making use of hand-carried ultrasound systems, "We have been using portable ultrasound since we evaluated the UK's first SonoSite (Bothell, WA, USA) 180PLUS point-of-care system in 1999. We were very happy with the versatility and image quality of that system for the vast majority of our portable workload, and since then, use of point-of-care ultrasound has dramatically expanded in the hospital. We have now used a full range of systems, simpler ones used on the wards for vascular access and abdominal scans, and some of the more sophisticated and up-to-date models, like SonoSite's MicroMaxx system, in specialist areas such as critical care and the transplant units. We recently reviewed the newest M-Turbo system; it has very good color sensitivity and you really can just open it up and start scanning straight away. It was universally very well received.”

Dr. Elliott reported that the hospital began training consultants to conduct scans within their area of expertise, and this soon increased to a range of ward staff, creating a large skill base for basic scanning procedures. Dr. Elliott added, "there are governance rules and audit procedures in place to ensure that patients receive the best possible service, and new guidelines on the use of ultrasound will help to strengthen this process. Transferring routine work out of the radiology department is a rational use of resources, and releases sonographers and equipment for more specialized scanning. In addition, Sonographers often can make use of the point-of-care systems on the wards for performing complex procedures, such as transplant Doppler or DVT [deep vein thrombosis] scans, and this further eases the workload within the radiology department.”

Recently, according to Dr. Elliot, the focus of point-of-care ultrasound has been moving away from radiology as a primary market; however, he believes this is now gradually changing. "More radiologists are seeing a role for hand-carried systems in their patient care strategies. The instruments themselves are very robust, which is important in a hospital environment where reliability is crucial, and you can quickly move around the hospital, without having to wait for lifts or move patients. Most importantly, patients are getting a more efficient service, and being able to provide almost instantaneous diagnosis at the bedside is an important way of streamlining hospital resources,” said Dr. Elliot.

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