Current Gaps in Point-of-Care Ultrasound Supervision in Generalist Practice in Japan: A Nationwide Survey

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is increasingly used in generalist practice by physicians, nurse practitioners, and nurses. However, the current availability of clinical supervision and preferred supervision models for POCUS remains unclear.

We conducted an anonymous web-based survey among members of five academic societies related to generalist practice in Japan between April 2024 and March 2025. The target respondents were physicians, nurse practitioners, and nurses. The survey assessed POCUS use in daily clinical practice, current supervision status, preferred supervision models, and previous training experience.

A total of 1056 valid responses were analyzed, including 835 physicians and 221 nurses or nurse practitioners. Overall, 735 respondents (69.6%) reported performing some form of POCUS in daily clinical practice. The most common current supervision status was having no available supervisor inside or outside the facility (36.9%), more common among physicians than among nurses and nurse practitioners (42.2% vs. 17.2%, p < 0.001). Real-time online supervision was reported as the current supervision status by 2.1% of respondents, whereas 56.3% selected it as a preferred model and 79.5% selected continuous in-person supervision; the two items used different response formats (single choice vs. multiple response) and are not directly comparable. Fewer than 40% of respondents had received previous POCUS training, although 77.8% expressed future training needs.

POCUS is widely used in generalist practice in Japan, but clinical supervision remains insufficient. Reported current supervision differed from preferred supervision models, suggesting that real-time online supervision may be a feasible strategy to support safe and sustainable POCUS implementation.