Andani Rafiq, Jacques Queen, Yi Yanqing, Jelic Tomislav, Micks Taft, Bradbury-Squires David, Stone-McLean Jordan, Parsons Michael, Sheppard Gillian
Department of Family Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Population Health and Applied Health Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada.
CJEM. 2025 Mar;27(3):191-197. doi: 10.1007/s43678-024-00829-7. Epub 2025 Jan 8.
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is a rapidly evolving and clinically significant skill set that has potential for improving patient care for the approximately 7 million Canadians living in rural and under-resourced environments. A national appraisal of rural POCUS training and utilization is needed to understand barriers to funding and training for rural emergency physicians in Canada. The primary objective of this study was to determine the current level of training and types of POCUS utilization by rural emergency physicians in Canada. The secondary objective was to describe the barriers to POCUS use.
An online survey of POCUS education, training, and utilization was distributed, in English and French, to rural emergency physicians across Canada via the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, Society of Rural Physicians of Canada and College of Family Physicians of Canada listservs.
One hundred and sixty-eight physicians completed the survey with a response rate of 10%. Most were family physicians registered with the College of Family Physicians of Canada (68%) and worked in rural communities with under 10,000 residents (64%). The majority of respondents (94%) used a POCUS device in their practice, with 40% always using POCUS and 84% having access to a high-quality device. POCUS was commonly used for abdominal aortic aneurysm, cardiac, and obstetrical exams. Key barriers to training were cost (62%), distance to the training center (48%), inability to take time off work (43%) and insufficient hospital administration support (21%). Eighty percent of respondents agreed that POCUS was valuable in rural and remote areas with limited access to diagnostic imaging and 78% agreed that institutions should fund POCUS training.
POCUS is used daily for patient care in rural Canadian emergency departments. Despite widespread access to POCUS, rural emergency physicians face significant barriers in training and utilization.
床旁超声检查（POCUS）是一项快速发展且具有临床重要意义的技能组合，对于改善生活在农村及资源匮乏地区的约700万加拿大人的医疗护理具有潜力。需要对农村POCUS培训与应用进行全国性评估，以了解加拿大农村急诊医生在资金和培训方面的障碍。本研究的主要目的是确定加拿大农村急诊医生当前的培训水平和POCUS应用类型。次要目的是描述POCUS使用的障碍。
通过加拿大急诊医师协会、加拿大农村医师协会和加拿大家庭医师学院的邮件列表，以英语和法语向加拿大各地的农村急诊医生发放了一份关于POCUS教育、培训和应用的在线调查问卷。
168名医生完成了调查，回复率为10%。大多数是在加拿大家庭医师学院注册的家庭医生（68%），并在居民不足10000人的农村社区工作（64%）。大多数受访者（94%）在其临床实践中使用POCUS设备，40%的人总是使用POCUS，84%的人可以使用高质量设备。POCUS常用于腹主动脉瘤、心脏和产科检查。培训的主要障碍是费用（62%）、到培训中心的距离（48%）、无法请假（43%）和医院管理支持不足（21%）。80%的受访者认为POCUS在诊断成像获取有限的农村和偏远地区很有价值，78%的受访者认为机构应该为POCUS培训提供资金。
在加拿大农村急诊部门，POCUS每天都用于患者护理。尽管POCUS的使用很普遍，但农村急诊医生在培训和应用方面面临重大障碍。
