Novice point-of-care ultrasound for the assessment of acute dyspnea in the emergency department.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Dyspnea is one of the most common presentations to the ED. The goal of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of POCUS examination completed by a medical student for several causes of dyspnea.

Methods

A prospective observational study was conducted in the ED of an academic center. Adult patients (≥ 18 yo) who presented to the emergency room with dyspnea were enrolled in the study. The study investigator was a medical student who was blinded to the clinical work up. Standardized POCUS examinations were performed following a modified BLUE protocol to identify the dyspnea etiology as one of the following diagnoses: asthma/COPD, acute heart failure, pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, pneumothorax, and non-diagnostic. POCUS diagnoses were compared to the clini

SUBMITTER: O'Brien J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12532782 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature