Basic Cardiac Point-of-Care Ultrasound, Part 1

This Harvard Medical School Continuing Education video examines these key questions: What is point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS)? How does one select the best ultrasound probe and perform the core probe motions?

Dr. Aidan Sharkey, MD, an anesthesiologist at Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston, reviews the use cases for portable ultrasound equipment at a patient’s bedside and the technological advances driving its increased application. Dr. Sharkey identifies the major differentiating factors between curvilinear, linear, and phased array probes as well as when and why to choose them. He explains how to optimize depth and gain settings in POCUS, and he demonstrates the four basic motions used in effective probe manipulation.

This video was peer reviewed by Dr. Jonathan Salik, TMD, MHPEd, Instructor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital; and Dr. Sugantha Sundar, MD, Assistant Professor of Anesthesia, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, to validate the quality and accuracy of the content. It was edited by affiliate physicians of Harvard Medical School, Avanthi Raghavan, MD Cardiology Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital and Anna Handorf, MD, Research Fellow in Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital. 

00:00 | Introduction
00:34 | What is POCUS?
01:45 | Ultrasound probe selection
02:34 | Basic knobology
04:07 | POCUS probe manipulation
05:19 | Summary

References:
Images and scans courtesy of Dr. Aidan Sharkey, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. ©2022

Notice: At this time, the content in this video is not accredited.