Point-of-care ultrasound education for non-physician clinicians in a resource-limited emergency department.

<p><b>OBJECTIVE: </b>To describe the outcomes and curriculum components of an educational programme to train non-physician clinicians working in a rural, Ugandan emergency department in the use of POC ultrasound.</p><p><b>METHODS: </b>The use of point-of-care ultrasound was taught to emergency care providers through lectures, bedsides teaching and hands-on practical sessions. Lectures were tailored to care providers&#39; knowledge base and available therapeutic means. Every ultrasound examination performed by these providers was recorded over 4.5&nbsp;years. Findings of these examinations were categorised as positive, negative, indeterminate or procedural. Other radiologic studies ordered over this same time period were also recorded.</p><p><b>RESULTS: </b>A total of 22&nbsp;639 patients were evaluated in the emergency department by emergency care providers, and 2185 point-of-care ultrasound examinations were performed on 1886 patients. Most commonly used were the focused assessment with sonography in trauma examination (53.3%) and echocardiography (16.4%). Point-of-care ultrasound studies were performed more frequently than radiology department-performed studies. Positive findings were documented in 46% of all examinations.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS: </b>We describe a novel curriculum for point-of-care ultrasound education of non-physician emergency practitioners in a resource-limited setting. These non-physician clinicians integrated ultrasound into clinical practice and utilised this imaging modality more frequently than traditional radiology department imaging with a large proportion of positive findings.</p>