Ultrasonography for Skin and Soft Tissue Infections, Noninfectious Cysts, Foreign Bodies, and Burns in the Critical Care Setting.

There are multiple opportunities for the use of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of skin and soft tissue differentials. Ultrasonography is inexpensive, easily reproducible, and able to provide real-time data in situations where condition changes and progression are common. Not only does bedside ultrasonography provide the clinician an in-depth look beyond epidermal structures into body cavities, it remains a safe, nonionizing radiating, effective, cost-efficient, reliable, and accessible tool for the emergency management of life- and limb-threatening integumentary infections. Unnecessary invasive procedures are minimized, providing improved patient outcomes. Integumentary abnormalities secondary to trauma, surgery, and hospitalization are common among critical care patients. This article provides a brief overview and evidence-based recommendations for the use of ultrasonography in the critical care setting for integumentary system conditions, including common skin and soft tissue differentials, foreign bodies, and burn depth assessment.

Is E-Learning Education Effective in Increasing the Ability of Nonphysician Medical Flight Crewmembers to Accurately Interpret Point-of-Care Lung and Cardiac Ultrasound Examinations?

OBJECTIVE: Patients suffering from severe injury or illness can benefit from the care and transport of helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS). This may be due to the speed of transport, level of care, expertise of flight crews, and access to specialized equipment and tools. One such tool is point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). POCUS-based lung and cardiac evaluations can positively influence the assessment and care provided to critically ill HEMS patients, but how these procedures can best be learned by nonphysician flight crewmembers has not been fully explored. METHODS: In this prospective, interventional study, 26 flight crewmembers were evaluated before and after a succinct, guided educational intervention focused on the use of free open-access medical education material intended to help them acquire the knowledge needed to accurately identify and interpret POCUS assessments. RESULTS: After completing the educational intervention, participants had a statistically significant improvement in their postintervention scores. CONCLUSION: This study supports the use of free open-access medical education material in improving the knowledge needed for nonphysician flight crewmembers to interpret basic lung and cardiac ultrasound images. Integrating this information into educational programs may contribute to increased comfort and proficiency and serve to accelerate the adoption of this tool in the air medical environment.