Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in the management of congestive heart failure
CHF management in the POCUS Era is precise, interesting and better
Visually inspecting neck veins, listening to lungs for imprecise surrogates of pulmonary edema, or looking for leg swelling are great tools for the Before POCUS Era in bedside diagnostics. And for those who are not able to use POCUS (lack of training or no ultrasound probe etc.), they still make sense. However, for the rest of us, we must transition to the highly accurate modern era for the sake of our patients. At what point can we no longer justify less accurate diagnostics, excess testing, or near misses with the inconvenience of learning a new skill.
I was fortunate enough to be invited to give Internal Medicine Grand Rounds on point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in the management of congestive heart failure (CHF) patients.
With the portability of handheld ultrasound devices like the Butterfly IQ, and the high resolution and relatively small size of machines like the Sonosite PX, it is becoming more and more clear that an audible listening device does not cut it anymore. With POCUS you can diagnose pulmonary edema with near certainty. You can estimate right atrial pressure accurately. You can diagnose congestive heart failure rather than just infer it. And you can provide CHF patients with the rapid diagnosis and meticulous management they deserve.
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Get a copy of The POCUS Manifesto: Expanding the limits of our physical exam with point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS).