ACTIONCARDS – one-page instructions framing POCUS use for family medicine physicians

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is widely used in many clinical specialties including family medicine [1]. The potential use in family medicine includes a great variety of clinical situations and related scanning modalities [2] [3]. However, for many scanning projections the frequency with which the scan is performed is low [4] [5] [6] making it difficult to develop routine and maintain scanning competence. Furthermore, the low pre-test probability of disease and less severe cases seen in patients in primary care may challenge the ability to recognize pathology on images. In addition, the working conditions in office-based family medicine leave little room for practice due to the timeframe of the consultation [7] and the lack of opportunities for collegial back-and-forth discussion and proctored scans.

Publication History

Article published online:
06 June 2023

• References

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• 3 American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). AAFP recommended curriculum guidelines for family medicine residents point of care ultrasound. 2016 Available from (Accessed 2 Feb 2019): https://www.aafp.org/dam/AAFP/documents/medical_education_residency/program_directors/Reprint290D_POCUS.pdf
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• 14 Evaluation of 1-page instructionenss as support tool for users of ultrasound in general practice. A qualitative study. Master thesis by medical student Michael Bjerring Kristensen, Main counselor Martin Bach Jensen Project counselor Camilla Aakjær Andersen. Aalborg University 2021 (in Danish).