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Updated: Nov 20, 2025

Point-of-Care Lung Ultrasound in Adults: Image Acquisition
Published on: March 3, 2023
Exposure to point-of-care ultrasound in PA programs before employment
1Courtney M. Smalley practices emergency medicine at Cleveland (Ohio) Clinic Health System, and is director of emergency ultrasound for the Emergency Services Institute. She also is an assistant professor in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The author has disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
Objectives:
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is integral to bedside evaluation of ED patients. This study examines POCUS exposure for physician assistants (PAs) before ED employment.
Methods:
A retrospective cross-sectional survey was distributed electronically to PAs employed in 13 EDs across a healthcare system. Participants were queried on POCUS education during PA training. Findings were reported as percentages of total respondents, using descriptive statistics.
Results:
The response rate was 70.1%. Only 14.9% of respondents received POCUS exposure in PA school. Of those who received training, most (66.7%) received 5 or fewer hours and 94.1% strongly agree or agree that POCUS education should be integrated into PA education.
Conclusion:
In this survey, most PAs practicing in the ED did not receive POCUS education during training. Practice location and year of graduation may contribute to this finding. Healthcare systems should consider additional training for PAs working in EDs to bridge gaps in knowledge.
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