Practice of Emergency Point-of-Care Ultrasound in a French Emergency Medicine Network

Aim: Emergency point-of-care ultrasound (EPOCUS) is an essential tool of our practice. The main objective of our study was to evaluate characteristics of physicians practicing EPOCUS within the emergency medicine structures of our territory. The secondary objective was to analyze factors influencing regular EPOCUS practice. Procedure: Multicenter, declarative and descriptive study focusing on practice of EPOCUS by emergency physicians working in a French emergency network by an online survey. Results: 111 out of 120 surveys were filled in (92%). Eleven emergency departments (92%) had sonographs, nine of which were own-staffing (82%). Sixty-six physicians (59%) were reported performing EPOCUS regularly. FAST (focused assessment with sonography for traumas) appeared to be the most widely practiced (80 physicians, 72%), followed by hemodynamic (50 physicians, 45%) and pleural (44 physicians, 40%) exploration. In the group of physicians not practicing EPOCUS, 17 out of 22 (77%) explained it by a lack of training. At the same time, interest of EPOCUS by emergency physicians was rated at 7 +/- 2 on a scale from zero to nine. Factors significantly associated with practice of EPOCUS were sex-ratio (P < 0.001), type of emergency activity (P = 0.005), type of ultrasound training (P < 0.001) and seniority of ultrasound equipment (P < 0.001). Conclusion: This practice survey showed that the regular practice was predominant with a high interest of emergency physicians in EPOCUS practice. However, the principal obstacle to this development was a level of training deemed insufficient by some physicians.