Emergency care practitioners’ views on the use of ultrasound in pre-hospital acute care settings

Abstract

Background: Ultrasound may assist in the detection of life-threatening conditions and evolving pathologies. South African emergency care practitioners (ECPs) working in pre-hospital contexts have historically not used ultrasound to diagnose and treat patients. However, recently published clinical practice guidelines from the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) suggest that ultrasound be considered as an adjunct in the provision of pre-hospital emergency care. Our study investigated ECPs’ views and perceptions of introducing ultrasound to their scope of practice.

Pre-hospital POCUS then and now

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In this issue of the journal you can read about a qualitative study exploring the views of Emergency Care Practitioners on pre-hospital point-ofcare ultrasound (POCUS). 1 In general, participants believed that pre-hospital POCUS had diagnostic value that could positively influence patient care. There were, however, some caveats -views that POCUS may (at least in some cases) take the focus off rapid transportation to hospital and that it would require significant cost and training that could be used for other more meaningful resources (the authors argue that, based on international experience, training could meet the needs of prehospital POCUS providers with fairly easy and cost-effective courses).

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