Introduction: Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) has been a part of emergency medicine (EM) training for almost two decades. EM training program has a very broad and rigorous POCUS curricula which, in several cases, does not translate to routine application in clinical settings. This study therefore sought to compare the indications, utilization, barriers, and preferred POCUS educational method in a large Middle Eastern academic EM. Methodology: A validated questionnaire was emailed to 50 EM faculties between April and May 2019. Volunteer faculty members partook in a semi-structured interview to better understand the indications, current use, barriers, and preferred learning method. Responses were anonymous, and data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Results: This was a mixed design study. 30/50 (60%) of faculty responded to the survey, with a mean age of 39.2 years and a mean number of years in practice, 13.1. 55% (n=28) completed POCUS training in less than five years, while 45% completed more than five years ago and 5% never completed it. Forty percent of EM physicians were trained in Africa, while 55% were qualified in Asia and 5% completed their training in Europe. The indications and frequently performed procedures were consistent with the previous research. The common barrier reported was lack of time, lack of credentialing, lack of quality assurance, and national guidelines. The majority of the faculty preferred a blended learning approach for POCUS. Conclusion: POCUS perceived barriers to its full use include time constraints, lack of national guidelines, and credentialing (awarding POCUS qualifications) of the faculty. Blended learning appears to be the preferred approach towards acquiring the knowledge and skills of POCUS.

Background: Hamad General Hospital (HGH) Emergency Department (ED) provided 465,942 patient visits in 2014. (ED) use has increased annually resulting in overcrowding, longer wait periods for service and increased stress on health care workers. Much attention has been paid to factors contributing to this increased usage such as the return visit of an (ED) patient within 48 hours of the initial visit. 48 hours is the benchmark time period used in measuring (ED) return visits utilized by many countries and it became a mandatory quality indicator of performance by the Supreme Council of Health in Qatar on April 2015. This study was conducted to identify factors associated with scheduled and unscheduled 48 hours return visits to serve as a basis for a Quality Improvement Project (QIP) for development of interventions to decrease unscheduled returns. Methods: An exploratory quantitative study using a descriptive correlational design was performed. The sample consisted of all patients had a return visits to (ED) within 48 hours from the discharge time during January 2015 at the study facility. Data were abstracted from electronic patients’ records utilizing the data collection tool, all electronic records was reviewed by experienced emergency physicians. Results: For the study month of January 2015 there were 1023 return visits within 48 hours from the discharge time (2%) out of 42981 (ED) patients. 906 visits (89%) was unplanned out of them 102 visits (11%) was clinically significant. 85 cases(9%) were admitted on the return visit and we had no mortality cases. Abdominal pain was the main presenting complaint (28%) of all revisits followed by musculoskeletal pain (13%) for patients whom presenting with the same complaint. Conclusion: Abdominal pain is the most frequent complaint associated with unscheduled return visits. Further Study is important to design and implement interventions to decrease the frequency of unscheduled returns.