Use of ultrasound in emergency gynaecology

Ultrasound scan (USS) is an important tool for assessing and diagnosing early pregnancy and gynaecological emergencies. Providing an ultrasound scanning service at all hours would enable and ease prompt diagnosis and appropriate management. It would also help hospitals in reducing costs secondary to unnecessary admissions due to lack of ultrasound out of hours. We have conducted a retrospective observational study that looked into the out of hours admissions to a busy early pregnancy unit in a general district hospital, over a 3-month period. Our results highlight the important role and possible benefits of using ultrasound out of hours and prove it is a cost-effective approach. However, providing ultrasound scanning out of hours is affected by limitations of staff and resources at each unit. This could be avoided by following a multidisciplinary approach in acute services and providing more training for medical staff in ultrasound scanning.