Standardization of Point-of-Care-Ultrasonography in Critical Care: Enhancing Quality and Efficiency

The integration of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) in the critical care specialty has changed the field's practice. This review aims to provide an overview of the current scope of POCUS in the assessment of shock and acute respiratory failure, discussing barriers to its implementations, frameworks useful in improving POCUS efficiency and delineate current pathways for assuring POCUS competency.

POCUS enhances diagnostic accuracy and expedites diagnosis etiology of shock and acute respiratory failure. Several obstacles impede its seamless incorporation into the critical care field. Models such as networking platforms facilitated by imaging digitalization, the digital value loop concept, integration of artificial intelligence algorithms have the potential role to overcome these challenges.

POCUS protocols have a tangible impact in the diagnosis and treatment of shock and acute respiratory failure in critical care settings. The digital value loop concept with the use of artificial intelligence holds the potential to maximize the role of POCUS in critical care, remodeling current methods of learning and assuring competence in POCUS.