Perspectives
Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Internal Medicine: Challenges and Opportunities for Expanding Use
Abstract
The physical examination taught to medical students has not changed significantly in decades and the methods currently used would be as familiar to a physician training in the 1940s as they are to my students today. A major exception to this continuity is the introduction of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS)—a US examination performed and interpreted in real time at the bedside by the treating physician to answer specific questions related to the patient’s presentation. POCUS is recognized by students as new and exciting and our medical schools are reacting: one survey found that 27% of schools have an integrated US curriculum for preclinical students.1This content is limited to qualifying members.
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