Background: Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) is becoming an increasingly valuable tool in Internal Medicine. With the proper training, POCUS can provide insight into diagnostic dilemmas, resulting in expedited management and enhancing patient care. However, the ability to effectively utilize POCUS is directly related to the extent of each individual’s training. It is therefore critical to implement [...]

Background: Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) is a goal-directed, bedside ultrasound examination performed by a healthcare provider to answer a specific diagnostic question or guide performance of an invasive procedure at the bedside. More hospitalists have begun to use POCUS, but little is known about current POCUS usage by hospitalists. We conducted a national survey [...]

Background: Point-of-Care-Ultrasound (POCUS) is increasingly recognized as a useful diagnostic tool in hospital medicine. US-based resident physicians are increasingly trained in the use of POCUS, but education and training for hospitalist attendings may lag behind creating a potential safety gap in supervision. We developed a test assessing knowledge of routine applications of POCUS used in [...]

Background: The role of point-of-care-ultrasound (POCUS) as a useful bedside tool for hospitalists is growing. Few studies examined residents’ attitude towards POCUS or compared POCUS image interpretation skills between residents with and without POCUS training in medical school. Methods: We distributed a 24-question anonymous survey to all our residents. Respondents self-reported their attitude towards POCUS [...]

Background: The accelerating integration of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) training into UME and GME curricula puts academic faculty untrained in POCUS at a disadvantage. Educating providers in POCUS during the clinical day is challenging. A faculty development program that creates a safe learning space for providers with variable schedules and unpredictable clinical responsibilities would [...]

Background: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), when integrated with a physical examination, increases accuracy of diagnosis and decreases procedural complications. The principal barrier to use by hospitalists is lack of training. We developed the Integrated Sonographic Competency at NYU (I-ScaN) to train hospitalists in POCUS. Methods: The year-long program began with an intensive 2-day course consisting of [...]

Background: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is nothing less than a paradigm shift in patient care. The technology has advanced rapidly and the competence in performing, interpreting and utilizing POCUS is extremely variable. There is often an inversion in competence with medical students and residents, in general, having more competence in this modality than many of their [...]

Case Presentation: A 91 year-old woman with congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic kidney disease, and morbid obesity was admitted with subacute shortness of breath. The patient’s CHF history was significant for no prior emergency department visits or hospitalizations attributed to CHF exacerbation. A recent transthoracic echocardiogram demonstrated moderate concentric left ventricular hypertrophy with a normal [...]

Case Presentation: A 30 year-old female presented postpartum day 1 following a normal vaginal delivery from an outside hospital after chest CT angiography (CTA) identified a 2.5 cm pericardial effusion. Review of systems was positive for dry cough, left sided chest pain, dyspnea on exertion, recent post-partum abdominal pain, chills, and diaphoresis. On arrival to [...]