American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine expert panel recommendations on point-of-care ultrasound education and training for regional anesthesiologists and pain physicians-part II: recommendations.

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is a critical skill for all regional anesthesiologists and pain physicians to help diagnose relevant complications related to routine practice and guide perioperative management. In an effort to inform the regional anesthesia and pain community as well as address a need for structured education and training, the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Society (ASRA) commissioned this narrative review to provide recommendations for POCUS. The recommendations were written by content and educational experts and were approved by the guidelines committee and the Board of Directors of the ASRA. In part II of this two-part series, learning goals and objectives were identified and outlined for achieving competency in the use of POCUS, specifically, airway ultrasound, lung ultrasound, gastric ultrasound, the focus assessment with sonography for trauma exam, and focused cardiac ultrasound, in the perioperative and chronic pain setting. It also discusses barriers to POCUS education and training and proposes a list of educational resources. For each POCUS section, learning goals and specific skills were presented in the Indication, Acquisition, Interpretation, and Medical decision-making framework.

American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine expert panel recommendations on point-of-care ultrasound education and training for regional anesthesiologists and pain physicians-part I: clinical indications.

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is a critical skill for all regional anesthesiologists and pain physicians to help diagnose relevant complications related to routine practice and guide perioperative management. In an effort to inform the regional anesthesia and pain community as well as address a need for structured education and training, the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA) commissioned this narrative review to provide recommendations for POCUS. The guidelines were written by content and educational experts and approved by the Guidelines Committee and the Board of Directors of the ASRA. In part I of this two-part series, clinical indications for POCUS in the perioperative and chronic pain setting are described. The clinical review addresses airway ultrasound, lung ultrasound, gastric ultrasound, the focus assessment with sonography for trauma examination and focused cardiac ultrasound for the regional anesthesiologist and pain physician. It also provides foundational knowledge regarding ultrasound physics, discusses the impact of handheld devices and finally, offers insight into the role of POCUS in the pediatric population.

Focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) for the regional anesthesiologist and pain specialist.

This article in our point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) series is dedicated to the role the focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) exam plays for the regional anesthesiologist and pain specialists in the perioperative setting. The FAST exam is a well-established and extensively studied PoCUS exam in both surgical and emergency medicine literature with over 20 years demonstrating its benefit in identifying the presence of free fluid in the abdomen following trauma. However, only recently has the FAST exam been shown to be beneficial to the anesthesiologist in the perioperative setting as a means to identify the extravasation of free fluid into the abdomen from the hip joint following hip arthroscopy. In this article, we will describe how to obtain the basic FAST views (subcostal four-chamber view, perihepatic right upper quadrant view, perisplenic left upper quadrant view, and pelvic view in the longitudinal and short axis) as well as cover the relevant sonoanatomy. We will describe pathological findings seen with the FAST exam, primarily free fluid in the peritoneal space as well as in the pericardial sac. As is the case with any PoCUS skill, the application evolves with understanding and utilization by new clinical specialties. Although this article will provide clinical examples of where the FAST exam is beneficial to the regional anesthesiologist and pain specialist, it also serves as an introduction to this powerful PoCUS skill in order to encourage clinical practitioners to expand the application of the FAST exam within the scope of regional anesthesia and pain management practice.