Key result
Focused cardiac ultrasonography aids rapid bedside evaluation but demands careful training and oversight.
This review highlights the expanding role of focused cardiac ultrasonography and emphasizes the need for standardized training, quality improvement, and cross-specialty collaboration.
Focused cardiac ultrasonography is performed by clinicians at the bedside and is used in time-sensitive scenarios to evaluate a patient's cardiovascular status when comprehensive echocardiography is not immediately available. This simplified cardiac ultrasonography is often performed by noncardiologists using small, portable devices to augment the physical examination, triage patients, and direct management in both critical care and outpatient settings. However, as the use of focused cardiac ultrasonography continues to expand, careful consideration is required regarding training, scope of practice, impact on patient outcomes, and medicolegal implications. In this review, we examine some of the challenges with rapid uptake of this technique and explore the benefits and potential risk of focused cardiac ultrasonography. We propose possible mechanisms for cross-specialty collaboration, quality improvement, and oversight.
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Luong et al. (2018) conducted a review in Cardiovascular evaluation. Focused cardiac ultrasonography was evaluated. Focused cardiac ultrasonography offers benefits for rapid bedside cardiovascular evaluation, but its expanding use requires careful consideration of training, scope of practice, and oversight.
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