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Protocols for the sanitation and maintenance of point‐of‐care ultrasound (US) equipment are lacking. This study introduces the CLEAR protocol (clean, locate, energize, augment supplies, and remove patient identifiers) as a tool to improve the readiness of US equipment, termed US equipment homeostasis. The state of US equipment homeostasis in the emergency department of a single academic center was investigated before and after implementing this protocol, with an improvement in outcomes. These findings demonstrate that the CLEAR protocol can improve US homeostasis. CLEAR can function as a teaching tool to promote homeostasis as well as a checklist to assess compliance.

Ultrasound (US) has become an indispensable skill for emergency physicians. Growth in the use of US in emergency medicine (EM) has been characterized by practice guidelines, education requirements, and the number of EM US practitioners. Our purpose was to further document the growth of EM US by profiling the breadth, depth, and quality of US‐related research presented at EM's most prominent annual research conference: the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Annual Meeting. We reviewed published research abstracts from the annual Society for Academic Emergency Medicine conferences from 1999 to 2015. Abstracts related to US were identified and examined for the number of authors and rigor of the research design. Designs were categorized as experimental, quasiexperimental, and nonexperimental. Abstract submissions were analyzed by the average rate of change over time. From 1999 to 2015, we observed a 10.2% increase in the number of accepted abstracts related to US research. This rate compared to a 3.2% average rate of change for all abstracts in general. The number of unique authors engaged in US research increased at a rate of 26.6%. Of the 602 abstracts identified as US related, only 12% could be considered experimental research. We observed larger increases in the number of US‐related research relative to the total number of abstracts presented at a national conference. The number of investigators engaging in this research has also steadily increased. The research design of these studies was found to be primarily quasiexperimental. To improve the quality of EM's use of point‐of‐care US, more rigorous research with experimental designs is needed.

In search of a standardized noninvasive assessment of intravascular volume status, we prospectively compared the sonographic inferior vena cava collapsibility index (IVC-CI) and central venous pressures (CVPs). Our goals included the determination of CVP behavior across clinically relevant IVC-CI ranges, examination of unitary behavior of IVC-CI with changes in CVP, and estimation of the effect of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) on the IVC-CICVP relationship.

Physician-performed focused ultrasonography is a rapidly growing field with numerous clinical applications. Focused ultrasound is a clinically useful tool with relevant applications across most specialties. Ultrasound technology has outpaced the education, necessitating an early introduction to the technology within the medical education system. There are many challenges to integrating ultrasound into medical education including identifying appropriately trained faculty, access to adequate resources, and appropriate integration into existing medical education curricula. As focused ultrasonography increasingly penetrates academic and community practices, access to ultrasound equipment and trained faculty is improving. However, there has remained the major challenge of determining at which level is integrating ultrasound training within the medical training paradigm most appropriate.The Ohio State University College of Medicine has developed a novel vertical curriculum for focused ultrasonography which is concordant with the 4-year medical school curriculum. Given current evidenced-based practices, a curriculum was developed which provides medical students an exposure in focused ultrasonography. The curriculum utilizes focused ultrasonography as a teaching aid for students to gain a more thorough understanding of basic and clinical science within the medical school curriculum. The objectives of the course are to develop student understanding in indications for use, acquisition of images, interpretation of an ultrasound examination, and appropriate decision-making of ultrasound findings.Preliminary data indicate that a vertical ultrasound curriculum is a feasible and effective means of teaching focused ultrasonography. The foreseeable limitations include faculty skill level and training, initial cost of equipment, and incorporating additional information into an already saturated medical school curriculum.Focused ultrasonography is an evolving concept in medicine. It has been shown to improve education and patient care. The indications for and implementation of focused ultrasound is rapidly expanding in all levels of medicine. The ideal method for teaching ultrasound has yet to be established. The vertical curriculum in ultrasound at The Ohio State University College of Medicine is a novel evidenced-based training regimen at the medical school level which integrates ultrasound training into medical education and serves as a model for future integrated ultrasound curricula.