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Point-of-Care Ultrasound: A Review of Ultrasound Parameters for Predicting Difficult Airways
Published on: April 7, 2023
PAs and point-of-care ultrasound: A scoping review
Courtney L Zak1, Jonathan D Monti
1At the time this article was written, Courtney L. Zak was a student in the PA program at Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, Colo. She now practices in orthopedics at New Mexico Orthopedic's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in Albuquerque, N.M. Jonathan D. Monti is an employee of the Geneva Foundation, an associate professor of the US Army/Baylor EMPA Fellowship Program, and a clinical research scientific advisor and grant/technical writer with Madigan Army Medical Center's Department of Clinical Investigation in Tacoma, Wash. The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
Objective:
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has rapidly emerged as a valuable tool in the bedside assessment of patients. This scoping review summarizes existing literature covering clinical use and educational integration of POCUS by physician assistants (PAs), with the overall goal of identifying gaps in POCUS research involving the PA profession.
Methods:
Keyword searches of PubMed, EMBASE, Medline, and Google Scholar were conducted. Studies assessing PA POCUS use or accuracy; those evaluating extent, method, or value of POCUS educational integration; and those assessing the effect of POCUS training interventions were included.
Results:
Of the 717 studies retrieved, 30 met inclusion criteria. Studies generally demonstrated that PAs can use a fairly wide range of POCUS applications with high accuracy, but that POCUS integration into PA programs remains limited because of a number of identified barriers.
Conclusions:
Machine availability and insufficient POCUS training and education opportunities limit widespread clinical use of POCUS by PAs.
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