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Infective endocarditis (IE) is an important pathology to detect in the Emergency Department (ED), but the diagnosis is too often delayed or missed1. IE ticks many boxes as a diagnosis we can ‘own’ in Emergency Medicine (EM):
1. It is time-critical with worsening morbidity/mortality as the disease progresses1-4
2. Patients are often critically unwell
3. Along with recent dental work and congenital heart disease, risk factors include uncontrolled diabetes and intravenous drug use5, and patients in the latter two groups often have poor access to healthcare and poor compliance with follow-up instructions. Their ED visit may well be the best opportunity we have to make a life-saving diagnosis.
The Modified Duke Criteria combines clinical, lab and imaging criteria for diagnosing IE, with the gold standard imaging modality being transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE). However access to TOE is extremely limited in the developing world for the majority of patients, and even in the developed world there are often geographic, expertise or resource constraints to accessing this study. In addition TOE requires some preparation - multiple staff, an empty stomach, sedation, topical anaesthesia - all followed by meticulous probe sterilisation and storage.
In contrast, transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is a widely available modality which can be performed immediately by clinicians at the bedside, and is steadily becoming cheaper and more accessible in emergency departments.
As with so many things point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), when dealing with valvular vegetations we are blessed with this rule of thumb:
BIGGER = WORSE = MORE URGENT = EASIER TO FIND6-10.
A 2017 meta-analysis published in JASE11 summarised the accuracy of comprehensive TTE for diagnosing IE. The statistics don’t apply directly to the ED setting as we are not performing comprehensive echocardiography - our scans are limited or focused and often performed with lower-quality machines. However TTE for native valve endocarditis has an impressive positive likelihood ratio (PLR) of 14.6, and a sensitivity of 66%. (PLR and sensitivity are the numbers we are most interested in, as we are attempting to rule-in, NOT rule-out this pathology.)
What have some of our societies and guidelines had to say about TTE for IE?
a) The Australasian Society of Ultrasound in Medicine (ASUM) Rapid Cardiac Echocardiography (RCE) unit includes assessment of the tricuspid, mitral and aortic valve appearance12.
b) The ASUM Critical Care Diploma of Diagnostic Ultrasound (DDU) - targeted at specialists including emergency physicians - includes assessment of valvular lesions13.
c) The 2016 American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) guideline for Appropriate Use Criteria for Evaluation of Cardiac Sources of Emboli states that suspected IE, new murmur, stroke and peripheral emboli are all valid reasons to perform transthoracic echocardiography14.
d) In 2016 a group including emergency physician Dr Mike Blaivas published Guidelines for the Appropriate Use of Bedside General and Cardiac Ultrasonography in the Evaluation of Critically Ill Patients15. They gave a grade 2c recommendation for screening with Basic Cardiac Ultrasound (BCU) in suspected IE. They state: “The intensivist with basic-level training may be able to recognise obvious vegetations. In low-risk patients, BCU could lead the physician to pursue alternative diagnoses, and in high-risk patients, it could help to identify large lesions easily.”
I identified eight published cases where IE was diagnosed by an emergency physician using bedside echo16-23.
The following is a further series of three patients who presented to us at Janus General Emergency Department24 with IE, whose bedside echo in ED expedited their diagnostic and management pathway. The cases are all males aged 20-50 - it is worth noting that the incidence of IE is higher in men (1.5:1 - 3:1 M:F)10.
A male intravenous drug user in his 20s presented with acute left-sided weakness. A week prior he had presented with cough, fever and murmur, and was discharged on oral antibiotics. Subsequently his blood cultures had grown streptococcus mitis. On examination he had 0/5 power in his left upper and lower limbs, fever, a systolic blood pressure of 90, tachycardia, inspiratory crackles in bilateral lung fields, and a loud diastolic murmur throughout the precordium.
Bedside echo demonstrated anterior and posterior mitral valve leaflets (AMVL/PMVL), thickened by heavy vegetations. His PMVL was prolapsing, with severe mitral regurgitation (MR) causing acute pulmonary oedema.
He was urgently transferred to a cardiothoracic unit and stabilised. His comprehensive echo showed severe MR and moderate-sized mitral vegetations with a possible impact lesion. He eventually underwent mitral valve replacement and thankfully on discharge months later had minimal residual neurological deficit. 2. A male in his 40s presented septic, drowsy, with vague complaints of pain in his R flank and down his R thigh. Examination did not reveal any septic focus relevant to the location of the pain, his urine was clear, and he had no septic focus in his abdominal, vertebrae or soft tissues. He did however have an obvious diastolic murmur, and it was unknown whether this was acute or chronic. 
Bedside echo showed severe aortic regurgitation (AR). The LV was not yet significantly dilated, suggesting that the AR was acute. My imaging was sub-optimal, and I did not identify an obvious aortic valve (AV) vegetation - his scan was ‘indeterminate’.
I admitted the patient with heightened suspicion for IE as the primary septic focus. His comprehensive echocardiogram the following day confirmed an AV non-coronary cusp vegetation with acute severe AR. 3. Another male in his 40s presented with a week of fever and heart failure symptoms - orthopnoea and dyspnoea on exertion. He had no known IE risk factors. He was overweight, however otherwise looked reasonably well from the end of the bed. On examination he had bilateral lung crackles, mild peripheral oedema, and a new murmur. 
Bedside echo revealed an enormous 22mm aortic valve lesion prolapsing into the LVOT. Considering the size of the lesion he was compensating very well and didn’t appear septic, but was transferred semi-urgently to a tertiary hospital. His comprehensive echocardiogram showed a congenital bicuspid AV (previously undiagnosed) with mild stenosis, and a large mobile echodensity >2cm attached to the the base of the LVOT aspect of the anterior leaflet. There was severe eccentric AR with a pressure half-time (PHT) of 93 ms, and pan-diastolic flow reversal in the aorta.
Some learning points:
1. IE can have a widely variable, non-specific presentation - pain, dyspnoea, sepsis, septic emboli. Bedside echo is a tool which should be used liberally for sick patients, and also when you are uncertain about the cause of a patient’s fever or murmur.
2. In the ED, we don’t necessarily have to visualise a vegetation to make a provisional diagnosis of IE. If you find secondary signs including regurgitation and pericardial effusion, you might label the study as ‘indeterminate’, with a heightened suspicion for IE.
3. We all know TTE is not highly sensitive for IE. Take this one step further - even a TOE cannot exclude infectious endocarditis! “Vegetations not identified on this study” is as definitive as you’ll see on a TOE report.
4. Next time you’re assigned the painful task of checking your ED’s un-reviewed lab results, keep a close eye out for unexplained staphylococcal, streptococcus viridans (as in case 1), enterococcal and HACEK organisms in blood cultures.
5. Speaking of blood cultures, take those 3 sets over the course of an hour BEFORE giving antibiotics25. If you skip this step in the rush to meet your departmental sepsis guideline, your cardiologists may end up having to use the difficult label of Blood Culture-Negative Infective Endocarditis, and the choice of antibiotic to use long-term may not be optimal.
6. We’ve only discussed native valve endocarditis here - echocardiography for prosthetic valve endocarditis is a massive further leap of complexity! Safest to say that prosthetic valves are a risk factor for IE, and if IE is on the differential your patient needs comprehensive imaging as soon as possible.
To conclude, bedside echo in the emergency department to diagnose IE is not yet considered standard practice. However the POCUS Perfect Storm of decreasing cost, widespread training and technological imaging advances means emergency physicians today have the potential to diagnose and manage this life-threatening condition more rapidly than ever before.
AuthorDr Jonathan Henry
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 Tell us a bit about yourself…
I’m from a small town in 'Norn Ireland' called Enniskillen, home of possibly the world’s best pub, Blakes the Hollow, followed closely by the finest chips, stuffing and gravy. Having trained as a GP in the west of Ireland I left for 'a year’ to see how things were done in the antipodes. Ten years later I am working as an emergency physician in Grafton and Coffs Hospitals and enjoying life with my wife and two little ones in a small village by the beach. When/why did you get involved with POCUS? A young Justin Bowra and I crossed paths in St Vincent’s ED in Sydney in 2009. Intimidated by his booming voice and inspired by his skills with a probe I started my journey into the world of Focused Ultrasound. In 2012 I joined the original UTEC program in Liverpool hospital and did the workshop and online credentialing and found it a valuable way to learn more in the art of POCUS. 2015 was a game changer. In my first job as an ED Fellow I came across a case that changed the way I practiced emergency medicine. A female patient in her early 30s was brought in by ambulance looking very unwell, pale, shut down with an unrecordable BP. All of the resus bays were full and the patient was parked on a trolley waiting for a bed, randomly, next to an ultrasound machine. The team initiated resuscitation as I asked a focused history including LMP and lifted the probe and briefly scanned the abdomen. There was a large collection of intraperitoneal fluid. I called the OG doc on call and explained the situation and that we needed to go to theatre immediately. He said he would come down and assess the patient in ED. I said, 'with respect, we will meet you in theatre, we do not have time. I have saved the images, we have a ruptured ectopic and she is heading south.' The patient was in the ED for 9mins before leaving for theatre. There is no doubt that performing the 15 second ED ultrasound expedited definitive management dramatically and enabled the good outcome that was achieved. The patient happened to be an emergency doctor herself... and she also acknowledged the significance of POCUS in her resuscitation. Full consent was given to discuss this case. Why did you start EMUGs? Seeing how pivotal this 'new' technology would be in delivering best care I realised I needed to up skill further. After attending excellent training courses in advanced emergency ultrasound and echo I soon realised there was a large vacuum between doing a course and practicing on the floor. I met with another new FACEM Chris Partyka and we decided to team up and start an Emergency Ultrasound network to bridge this gap, and EMUGs was born in early 2015. We set the network up to include any staff looking after emergency patients, with a slant towards FACEMs, Trainees and other ED doctors. Our aim was to have sensible approach with the knowledge that clinical assessment came first, and ultrasound was purely an extension of this. Our initial goals were to:
What progress have you seen with regard to POCUS?
We have engaged with college and all ANZ ultrasound organisations and in the last four years POCUS has become an integral part of the ACEM curriculum, exam questions, and accreditation which is phenomenal to see. We have also witnessed a growing wave of Emergency Ultrasound training programs develop across towns and cities in New Zealand and Australia with EMUGs support and involvement. There are a number of other projects which have been growing including the Developing Country program, the Sonography Educator (SEED) project and establishment of formalised regional networks of Clinical Leads and Supervisors in EM ultrasound. Who was behind this wave of change?
Do you have anything to say to other doctors thinking of becoming involved with EMUGs? Yes.
Drop us a line and we will put you in touch with someone in your region to help you get up and going in your Focused Ultrasound journey… Or better still come to one of our events, meet your local team in person and get involved. Good luck! May the probe be with you. Brian O’Connell ('Aka' - BOC) With infection control a prominent issue for those involved in medical ultrasound practice, here is ACEM's official press release on the issue. Contact Alistair Murray if you have any concerns that your service is compromised as a result of the ASUM document.
Alistairmm@mac.com POCUS OUTCOMES AND SAFETY: A ‘NON-COCHRANY’ LITERATURE REVIEW by Justin Bowra and Alan Giles Part of ‘Tackling the tough topics’: The POCUS Debate & Clinical Leaders Meeting EMUGS NSW, 9 November 2018 The question we asked: What does the literature say about the actual efficacy and safety of POCUS? (IE actual real-world patient outcomes, rather than surrogate markers such as diagnostic accuracy) Methods: we asked a bunch of POCUS nerds from around the world to send us copies of any literature they had on the subject. We supplemented this by looking up papers that caught our eye, but if it cost actual money to download the articles we only downloaded the abstracts. Thanks to: Adrian Goudie and Paul Atkinson in particular for sending many of these papers, and also thanks to Frank Norman, Kylie Baker and Bob Jarman for their sage advice. The summary (for those with short attention spans) If used carefully by those who are properly trained, POCUS has been demonstrated to improve outcomes. (e.g. in BAT, penetrating cardiac injury, arrested patients) If used carelessly by idiots or those without proper training, POCUS has been shown to be useless (e.g. in stable BAT, and in shocked patients) or even harmful. Or to put it another way: ‘POCUS doesn’t kill people; doctors do!’ Now for a little more detail… FAST in blunt abdo trauma:
POCUS for undifferentiated shock:
Basic cardiac (2D look) in cardiac arrest:
POCUS in respiratory disease
Below are quotes from [Crager and Hoffman editorial. But it makes sense physiologically. Annals EM 2018 .pdf
The last word: (this is a quote from Rory Spiegel, commenting on Laursen’s respiratory POCUS study, in ‘‘ED Hocus POCUS ... or Just a Hoax?’ - https://www.emlitofnote.com/?p=298 ) I’m sure we all have experienced firsthand the utility of bedside US and this is by no means a call to abandon our probes, but rather an acknowledgement of the possibility of subtle harms. We must keep in mind, all testing comes at a price no matter how non-invasive and radiation-free it appears. The cost in this case is information and how we choose to act on it. This would certainly not be the first time increased access to medical technology has lead to such unintended consequences. To quote Dr Russell McLaughlin, Belfast POCUS tragic: ‘A fool with a stethoscope will be a fool with an ultrasound.’ Ultrasound will not make you smarter, or make you a better doctor or a nicer person. AuthorAlan Giles & Justin Bowra 
 Figure 1: Transcranial Spectral Doppler of the Right MCA Sonothrombolysis in Stroke The current state of play in hyper-acute stroke care mirrors the evolution of acute STEMI care over a decade ago. There is now beginning a very slow and gradual transition from systemic thrombolysis to neuro-interventional, catheter directed therapies. Whilst this is a wonderful thing, there remains significant barriers to accessing clot retrieval for most patients. Further, both primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) and clot retrieval are not just currently inaccessible to the majority of the world’s population, but, due to cost and expertise, will likely remain so for decades to come. Could ultrasound hold the key to future low-cost interventional therapies? Trans-Cranial Ultrasound, as its name suggests, involves placing the probe over the thinnest portion of the temple and scanning through the skull to visualise the brain. Trans-Cranial Ultrasound can allow visualisation of various aspects of the brain, particularly the circle of Willis (most importantly the Mid- Cerebral Artery (MCA)) using Doppler, as well the ventricles, in B-mode. This technology has been around for a while and is finally starting to gain rapid traction as a diagnostic modality (1). While its diagnostic use continues to grow, another avenue of possibility has opened up. Through exploring the effects of focussed ultrasound technology on tissues, ultrasound as an interventional modality is undergoing an evolution. The impact of sound waves on tissue causes rarefaction and compression; a kind of expansion and contraction. This vibration (movement) also causes some heat and has traditionally been viewed in a negative light; being the reason the ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) principle was introduced, and MI (Mechanical Index) and TI (Thermal Index) values are displayed on all machines. Interventional ultrasound is harnessing this effect to target lesions; and in the case of endovascular pathology, to target clots. What’s involved? Roughly 80-90% of the population have skulls thin enough for Transcranial Doppler to penetrate them; however in the remaining 10-20% of people (2,3), a microbubble contrast is required for visualisation. This microbubble contrast is a non-reactive substance of micro-gas particles trapped in a synthetic fatty-fluid, and a critical component to only excellent visualisation, but also intervention. When microbubbles are exposed to an ultrasound beam, they alter the attenuation of sound through the fluid inside a vessel. An effect known as Inertial Cavitation occurs(4) (i.e. the formation and violent collapse of gas-filled bubbles in a fluid) which causes short lived micro-jetting of surrounding fluid, structurally weakening the clot(5). Stable cavitation also causes microstreaming, which enlarges the size of the microbubbles and might compress the thrombus against the vessel wall, creating small pores in its surface(3).  Figure 2: Microbubble Cavitation By focussing the ultrasound beam on the thrombosed vessel for between 30-60 minutes, preliminary research is suggesting that rarefaction and compression work to affect a combination of an acoustic radiation force, stable cavitation, and inertial cavitation, of the microbubble contrast. We still don’t know which effect is most important, nonetheless, combined they effectively “shake up” and dislodge the fibrin structures of the clot, causing it’s proximal edges to weaken and degrade(3). This then paves the way for either the body’s endogenous lytic process, or an introduced lytic agent, to begin further disintegrating the thrombus. Already three separate observational studies suggest that Trans-Cranial Doppler might accelerate vessel recanalization in combination with r-tPa (recombinant tissue plasminogen activator) (6–10). Sonothrombolysis might also be effective in occlusive myocardial infarction, and initial trials are underway at the University of Alberta to test the effect of pre-pPCI microbubble contrast sonothrombolysis (NCT03092089)(11). It sounds rather magical and far-fetched, and frankly the science still has a way to go, but sonothrombolysis is pitching to hit serious research soon, and when it does, it’s going to make waves.  THANKS TO OUR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES PARTNER AIU FOR THIS INTERESTING CASE Images Credit (12,13) References: 1. Lau VI, Arntfield RT. Point ‑ of ‑ care transcranial Doppler by intensivists. Critical Ultrasound Journal. 2017; 2. Bahner DP, Blickendorf JM, Bockbrader M, Adkins E, Vira A, Boulger C, et al. Language of Transducer Manipulation. Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine [Internet]. 2016 Jan;35(1):183–8. Available from: http://doi.wiley.com/10.7863/ultra.15.02036 3. Bader KB, Bouchoux G, Holland CK. Sonothrombolysis. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2016;339–62. 4. Everbach EC, Francis CW. Cavitational mechanisms in ultrasound-accelerated thrombolysis at 1 MHz. Ultrasound in medicine & biology [Internet]. 2000 Sep;26(7):1153–60. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11053750 5. Meairs S. Sonothrombolysis. Translational Neurosonology. 2015;36:83–93. 6. Eggers J. Sonothrombolysis for treatment of acute ischemic stroke: Current evidence and new developments. Perspectives in Medicine [Internet]. 2012 Sep;1(1–12):14–20. Available from: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2211968X12000290 7. Rubiera M, Alexandrov A V. Sonothrombolysis in the Management of Acute Ischemic Stroke. American Journal Cardiovascular Drugs [Internet]. 2010 Feb;10(1):5–10. Available from: http://link.springer.com/10.2165/11316850-000000000-00000 8. Lu Y, Wang J, Huang R, Chen G, Zhong L, Shen S, et al. Microbubble-Mediated Sonothrombolysis Improves Outcome After Thrombotic Microembolism-Induced Acute Ischemic Stroke. Stroke [Internet]. 2016 May;47(5):1344–53. Available from: http://stroke.ahajournals.org/lookup/doi/10.1161/STROKEAHA.115.012056 9. Ricci S, Dinia L, Sette M Del, Anzola GP, Mazzoli T, Cenciarelli S, et al. Sonothrombolysis for Acute Ischemic Stroke. Stroke. 2013;6–8. 10. Controlled R, Sonothrombolysis C. NOR-SASS ( Norwegian Sonothrombolysis in Acute. Stroke. 2017;1–8. 11. Becher H. Clinical Trials: Sonothrombolysis in Patients With STEMI [Internet]. NCT. 2017 [cited 2018 Jun 12]. Available from: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03092089 12. Phillips. Microbuble Cavitation [Image] [Internet]. 2017. Available from: http://thefutureofthings.com/3805-ultrasound-activated-microbubbles-fight-cancer/ 13. Radiologykey.com. Use of transcranial Doppler ultrasonography in the pediatric intensive care unit [Internet]. radiologykey.com; 2016. p. 1. Available from: https://radiologykey.com/use-of-transcranial-Doppler-ultrasonography-in-the-pediatric-intensive-care-unit-consultant-level-examination In collaboration with Developing EM, our core partners ISTIH and our partners at AIU, we are proud to announce Dr Nilanka Wickramaratne and Dr Harendra Cooray from Sri Lanka as recipients of the 2018 EMUGs Developing Countries Scholarship. Dr Wickramaratne and Dr Cooray were nominated and selected in collaboration with The Critical Care Society of Sri Lanka. They have both demonstrated a sincere commitment to quality improvement in Sri Lanka. Their participation in this scholarship will enable significant training opportunities for Emergency Medicine doctors in training in Sri Lanka under their leadership. The students will be attending AIU's 5 day Advanced Emergency Medicine Ultrasound (POCUS) course compliments of our generous partners at AIU. They will also be attending as many of EMUGs Regional Events as possible either in person or via video conference so please join us in making them feel welcome and a part of our amazing EMUGs community of passionate POCUS professionals.   When I learned how to use ultrasound, I thought - wow, now I have this tool, I’ll never miss an IV again! I mean, you can see what you’re doing in real time - what could possibly go awry? Well… plenty, as it turns out. And through trial and error (not to mention the guidance of some people cleverer than myself), I’ve refined my technique… here are some tips that you may find useful. 1) Pick your patient There are some patients who need central lines or PICC lines off the bat. For instance, if I see a IVDU patient who has one potentially usable vein 4cm below the surface, and they’re going to need antibiotics for more than 3 days… that patient needs a PICC. A word of caution: sometimes getting the cannula in is the easiest part - getting it to STAY IN is the challenge. In patients with a lot of loose, fatty, or freely mobile subcutaneous tissue (ie, elderly patients, or patients with a lot of adipose tissue), by the time you’ve traversed 4cm of soft tissue, only a few millimetres of cannula is in the vein. As soon as the subcut tissue moves - that cannula will be pulled out of the vein. A PICC or long line is your best bet here. 2) Comfort is key Set up your workspace to maximise comfort - yours and the patient’s! (Take a tip from our anaesthetic colleagues - they are the masters of a good set up, as they know it’s key to the success of any procedure). A comfortable patient will stay still and hold a required position for longer. A comfortable doctor will have better fine motor control and better chance at success. For patient comfort - use towel rolls, pay attention to positioning and use an assistant to steady the limb if available. For doctor comfort - swing the screen of the ultrasound machine to an optimal position, sit down to do the procedure (or crank the bed up so you’re not having to lean over)... and, most important of all… eat and/or go to the bathroom before you start! My preference is to use use local anaesthetic drawn up in an insulin syringe (or 1mL syringe with 25G needle) whenever I’m doing ultrasound-guided IV cannulae. Personally, I get very distracted by patient pain, and I can work better if the patient isn’t flinching, wincing or swearing. Also, I figure that by the time I come along, there have already been several attempts at cannulation, and it’s a nice thing to do. A word of warning - if you’re using local anaesthetic, ensure that you get all the air out of the syringe before your infiltrate. Any air introduced into your field will destroy your ultrasound picture! 3) Choose your weapons wisely This is my list of equipment for inserting IV cannulae:
4) Use whatever view suits your needs Long axis? Short axis? What’s the best approach to cannulation? In my mind - both! Here’s a description of my technique: After my preparations are complete and I’m comfortably seated, I insert the needle and approach the vein using a short-axis approach, with my eyes on the screen until I reach the vessel. Once on top of the vessel, I bounce the needle a little so I can confirm that the needle is indenting the vessel. I then look down at the needle and advance it into the vessel, so I can spot a flashback as soon as it occurs. Once I get a flashback, I then rotate the probe into long axis view, and reduce the angle of the needle (ie, so it’s more shallow). I then advance a millimetre or so more, so I can see I’m in the centre of the vein, and watch on the screen as I slide the cannula off and into the vessel. 5) Secure that cannula! You’ve got it in… now make sure it stays in: tape that sucker down! Dry off the area thoroughly and secure it like you would a paediatric cannula. Hint: a bit of Friar’s Balsam (tincture of benzoin) or Cavilon (™) is particularly useful on sweaty skin, to help things to stick down. 6) Practice, practice, practice! This is just my technique - different things work best for different people. Practice this skill, ask people for tips, and try them out! It takes practice,a little experimentation and active learning to be a master at this skill. Acknowledgements: Many thanks to Dr Adrian Goudie, Dr Leanne Hartnett and Dr Lindsay Bridgford, for their tips and tricks which have helped me refine my IV cannulation technique! AuthorDr Melody Hiew  Welcome to the future where apps, AI, handheld devices and robots are taking over ultrasound education and scanning. I’d like to introduce you to Clip De-identifier. Preparing a talk? Posting on a blog? or just storing your logbook images - This nifty program developed by Ben Smith from Ultrasound of the Week allows you to crop patient information and unnecessary data from your ultrasound images or clips as well as removing the metadata embedded in the clip. It is simple to use with a drag and drop interface, compatible with MAC and PC and allows you to preview your images before clipping. It will save you loads of time especially with batch conversion being possible when you want to de-identify more than one ultrasound clip. Best of all it's free and open access! Email me your tips or leads on any new or amazing ultrasound tech/apps/blogs and I will review them in the future - Luke Phillips (Victoria Co-chair). AuthorDr Luke Phillips EMUGs was created to advocate for the use of POCUS in the Emergency Department and to form a collaborative learning network for all POCUS users. We believe that The EMUGs Doppler, EMUGs first digital newsletter, will allow us to further develop that network, with the latest in POCUS arriving directly to your inbox.
The Doppler is released quarterly and includes information on upcoming EMUGs and other POCUS-focused events, case studies, the latest information on POCUS technology and more. To read Issue 1 - CLICK HERE. To subscribe - CLICK HERE  After nearly three years of preparation and regional meetings the Emergency Medicine Ultrasound Groups regional teams are coming together for the first time! Months of planning has brought together an excellent gathering of Australian, New Zealand and international speakers to deliver a new wave of POCUS training and educational topics and approaches. The EMUGS sessions are part of the ACEM ASM so to join one or all of our sessions register via acem2017.com/ and also via the following eventbrite registration for logistical/organisation reasons: www.eventbrite.com.au/e/emugs-the-acem-annual-scientific-meeting-tickets-38800342870?aff=es2 NOTE: The EMUGs sessions are free to all ACEM ASM attendees. Any EMUGs donations are appreciated. This enables the Admin Team to provide essential support for all EMUGs projects. |
AuthorBlogs are written by our EMUGs Team from across Australasia. Archives
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