PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Michele Gallo
TI  - Impact of an hand held ultrasound machine (HHUSM) in pulmonologist's clinical hospital practice: Experience of nine months
DP  - 2012 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P413
VI  - 40
IP  - Suppl 56
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P413.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P413.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2012 Sep 01; 40
AB  - Introduction: HHUSM utilization is spreading outside radiology department at the point of care to guide some procedures and to assist clinical evaluation.Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of HHUSM utilization in the pulmonologist's hospital practice.Methods: An ultrasound report was written by the P after each examination Thoracic ultrasound evaluation (TUSE); a database was created after nine months. This database was analized to deduce the impact of HHUSM in pulmonologist's practice.Results: Data are summarized in Table 1: 146 TUSE were analized; 108 were used in the clinical setting of lung opacities in the chest X ray and ultrasound assisted thoracentesis. According to the pulmonologist's Knowledge, 38 TUSE were applied in critical care setting.Conclusion: HHUSM utilization is really important in several clinical situation. Limitations of tecnique were the operator's knowledge and the standardisation of the skillfulness outside radiology department.Waiting for gold standard examination HHUSM utilization could help in clinical procedures and decisions when applied al point of care.