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Geographic variation in point of care ultrasound provision : results from a national audit
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Aggarwal, Sunil, Shanmugam, Reshma, Knight, Thomas, Atkin, Catherine, Clare, Sarbjit, Smallwood, Nicholas and Lasserson, Daniel (2023) Geographic variation in point of care ultrasound provision : results from a national audit. The Ultrasound Journal, 15 (1). 16. doi:10.1186/s13089-023-00314-9 ISSN 2524-8987.
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Official URL: http://doi.org/10.1186/s13089-023-00314-9
Abstract
Background
There is an emerging consensus that point-of-care ultrasound is an essential skill in acute care. This is reflected in recent changes to the Acute Internal Medicine curriculum in the UK. The need to develop and maintain specific ultrasound competencies is now a mandatory component of training. There is a degree of uncertainty as to how existing training infrastructure can best accommodate these changes.
Methods
Data were obtained from the latest annual Society for Acute Medicine Benchmarking Audit 2021. All Acute Medical Units in the UK are eligible to participate. Data pertaining to the number of ultrasound machines and number of clinicians that regularly use point of care ultrasound were collected. This was used to develop a series of maps demonstrating variation in provision at the national level.
Results
In total, 123 AMUs responded to the questions related to ultrasound prevalence and numbers of trained clinicians. Of these, 78.9% (97/123) reported having access to at least one ultrasound machine. There was at least one clinician that regularly used ultrasound in 81 responding hospitals (65.9%). There was significant geographic heterogeneity in the use of ultrasound and availability of accredited supervisors. At a regional level, ultrasound expertise is typically concentrated within a relatively small number of hospitals.
Conclusion
Geographic variation in the use of ultrasound and availability of registered supervisors represents a significant challenge to ultrasound training provision at the national level. Targeted interventions in areas with less developed training infrastructure, such as regional training hubs may be required to ensure more equitable access to training opportunities.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | The Ultrasound Journal | ||||||
Publisher: | Springer | ||||||
ISSN: | 2524-8987 | ||||||
Official Date: | 21 March 2023 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 15 | ||||||
Number: | 1 | ||||||
Article Number: | 16 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1186/s13089-023-00314-9 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) |
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