Recommendations for developing a comprehensive point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) program in the Emergency Department.
EMUGs' mission is to promote the use of POCUS, ensuring critical care clinicians throughout Australia and New Zealand have the knowledge and ability to use POCUS effectively wherever they work. Over the last decade, POCUS use and availability has grown significantly across Australasia. However, while use and availability has improved, several long-standing barriers remain, and some issues around quality and governance have become more entrenched.
As clinicians working to improve POCUS use within our own workplaces, we often look to best practice guidelines from trusted organisations.Until now, a comprehensive reference point for POCUS development in Australasia has not existed.
We are excited to announce that a dedicated group of volunteers from EMUGs has taken on the task of filling this gap. We have listened to the discussions over the years at EMUGs Collab Labs, live and online clinical lead meetings and forums, reviewed the literature, searched through the guidelines of professional colleges, and consolidated this research into a concise advocacy statement. Our goal has been to summarise key recommendations, supported by references, to help you promote and improve POCUS programs in your area.
We’re proud to share that two open access articles born out of this effort have been published in Emergency Medicine Australasia (EMA). These articles are organised around the five pillars of POCUS as outlined by Carolyne McCormack et al. The first article offers a brief opinion piece summarising our key recommendations, while the second provides a more detailed exploration of the reasoning behind them.
A special thanks to authors Dr Luke Phillips, Dr Gabby King, Dr Josh Monester, Jo Douglas, Dr Alastair Maclean and Stacey Davidson for their months of hard work in creating this. We hope this statement will serve as a valuable tool in your efforts to advance your POCUS programs. We welcome your feedback and encourage you to connect with us at one of our events to explore how we can continue to improve POCUS education and accessibility.
Phillips, L., Maclean, A., Monester, J., Douglas, J., Davidson, S. and King, G. (2024), Optimising POCUS programs: A summary of EMUG's recommendations for the development and maintenance of ED POCUS programs. Emergency Medicine Australasia. https://doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.14485
Phillips, L., Maclean, A., Monester, J., Douglas, J., Davidson, S. and King, G. (2024), Recommendations for developing a comprehensive point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) program in the emergency department: an Emergency Medicine Ultrasound Group advocacy statement. Emergency Medicine Australasia. https://doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.14484
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