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Survey of point of care ultrasound usage in emergency medicine by V ietnamese physicians
Author(s) -
Rice Brian T,
Vu Ha,
Tran Lai Duc,
Vo Quang Xuan,
Mowafi Hani
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
emergency medicine australasia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.602
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1742-6723
pISSN - 1742-6731
DOI - 10.1111/1742-6723.12476
Subject(s) - point of care ultrasound , medicine , specialty , logistic regression , preference , family medicine , emergency medicine , ultrasound , radiology , economics , microeconomics
Objectives Emergency medicine ( EM ) is rapidly developing as a specialty in V ietnam. Point of care ultrasound ( POCUS ) is currently taught as part of formal EM curriculums though limited literature exists to describe current POCUS usage in EDs in V ietnam. A survey was developed to understand current POCUS utilisation and guide future training efforts. Methods A survey was administered to 104 Vietnamese physicians attending a national emergency medicine symposium regarding POCUS utilisation, access, training and preference. Data were analysed using multiple logistic regression to identify independent variables associated with POCUS usage. Results Increased access to ultrasound machines was significantly associated with increased POCUS usage, with ‘all the time’ access ( OR = 92.9, 95% CI 7.15–1207.6, P = 0.001) being more strongly associated than ‘sometimes’ access ( OR = 41.4, 95% CI 4.08–419.8, P = 0.002). Formal training did not significantly increase POCUS usage and 50.0% of respondents who regularly used POCUS had no formal training. There was no significant difference in physician preference or comfort for any single application of POCUS . There were 98.0% of trainees and 96.3% of independently practising physicians who reported a desire for additional POCUS training. Conclusions Regular access to ultrasound machines increases the frequency of POCUS usage in EDs in V ietnam. POCUS training was not as clearly associated with POCUS usage as those without formal training were equally likely to use POCUS as those with formal training. No single POCUS application stood out as strongly preferred by physicians in this survey.