Barriers to the use of ultrasound guidance in central venous catheter placement by emergency physicians in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study

The use of ultrasound-guided central venous catheter (USG-CVC) placement is still low among emergency physicians in many countries, including Saudi Arabia, because of several inherent perceived barriers. We assessed the barriers to the use of USG-CVC placement in clinical practice among Saudis currently in training, residents and board-certified physicians and evaluated the association of these barriers with the demographic characteristics of EPs. We conducted a cross-sectional survey among all emergency physicians (EPs) practicing in Saudi Arabia who completed a residency program in emergency medicine (EM) or were board-certified emergency physicians from October to December 2018. The survey material was sent via SurveyMonkey through the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties to target EPs. Two hundred thirty-four EPs completed the survey (response rate: 66.9%), and 177 (75.6%) were males. EPs from nongovernment institutions tended to agree significantly more than EPs from government institutions with the perception that USG-CVC placement is a time-consuming process (17.9% vs. 20.3%, respectively, p = 0.022). Residents were 3.8 times more likely to perceive loss of their skill in using Ultrasound (US) for CVC placement Odds ratio (OR) = 3.806, 95% Confidence interval (CI) = 0.218-0.686, p < 0.001), 2 times more likely to believe that USG-CVC placement was not proven in randomized controlled trials (OR = 2.061, 95% CI = 0.010-0.460, p = 0.040), and 5.5 times more likely to believe that USG-CVC placement was not a cost-effective procedure (OR = 5.490, 95% CI = 0.411-0.870, p < 0.001) than board-certified EPs. Many EPs, particularly those in training, believe there are several barriers to using USG-CVC placement, including loss of skill, a lack of support of the procedure in randomized controlled trials and cost-effectiveness. This is true, although there is existing evidence and a consensus regarding the superiority of USG-CVC placement over the landmark technique. In comparison to the more experienced and well-trained board-certified EPs, residents' confidence and skill in using USG-CVC placement may have been influenced by their training and experience.