Ultrasound use in ICUs is gaining momentum as more critical care physicians realize the effectiveness of point-of-care, goal-directed ultrasounds in the management of their patients, both for procedural guidance and as diagnostic tools.
Through well-designed studies and numerous critical care ultrasound hands-on courses offered through the ACCP and others, the opportunities to acquire the cognitive aspect of ultrasound, image acquisition, and interpretation skills continue to grow.
To this end, CHEST has launched a new video-based ultrasound case-based series called Ultrasound Corner. Its focus is to bridge image acquisition, interpretation skills, and its application to the critically ill patient. While the intensivist may gain proficiency in ultrasound image acquisition and interpretation with relative ease, its application to a critically ill patient may be more challenging.
This video-based ultrasound case format may fill a need for our readers by combining the clinical case scenario and physical exam with an appropriate logical, goal-directed ultrasound exam. Case patient video images will be compared with normal patient video images, allowing the intensivist immediate distinction. Videos will be accompanied by both labeled still images and voice narration to further illustrate the main teaching point of each case.
While rare and fascinating case reports interest both readers and editors for publication, Ultrasound Corner will focus on common, everyday clinical situations and the application of goal-directed ultrasound for diagnosis and management.
The rapid assessment of patients presenting with cardiopulmonary failure is the bread and butter of all intensivists; these cases are intended to provide guidance with ultrasonography to categorize shock states (cardiogenic, distributive, obstructive, etc) and to search for an etiology of respiratory failure using thoracic ultrasound. Interested members may also take an active role in this new series by submitting their video-based ultrasound cases for publication in CHEST (http://journal.publications.chestnet.org/ss/forauthors.aspx).
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