Internal Medicine Point of Care Ultrasound in the 21st Century: A ‘FoCUS’ on the Middle East

摘要

The emergence of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has profoundly impacted many facets of clinical practice, including the need to adapt to rapidly changing hospital capacity and its impact on workflow processes. On this backdrop, the importance of point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) to patient care is increasingly recognized. Focused Cardiac Ultrasound (FoCUS), one of the most common applications of PoCUS, has been defined as goal-directed, problem-oriented, but time-sensitive and repeatable cardiac ultrasound examination that is simplified and limited in scope [1]. FoCUS is usually performed by clinicians at the point-of care, for early recognition and treatment of serious cardiac pathology [1]. The use of FoCUS allows for bedside identification and monitoring of changes in cardiac function; in addition, its performance by the treating clinician allows for the conservation of personal protective equipment [2]. Thus, in the era of COVID-19, for patients in whom cardiac ultrasound is indicated, a FoCUS-first strategy is recommended [2]. Despite these recommendations, many centers to date remain sub optimally poised to perform FoCUS.