Journal of primary health care
-
INTRODUCTION Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is an increasingly common adjunct to the clinical assessment of patients in rural New Zealand. AIM To describe the scope of POCUS being practiced by rural generalist hospital doctors and gain insights, from their perspective, into its effect. METHODS This was a mixed-methods descriptive study. ⋯ There was large variation in frequency of scan types between the study hospitals that could not be accounted for by differences in training. DISCUSSION Rural generalists consider the broad scope of POCUS they practise to be an important but challenging skill set. Clinical governance, including an agreed scope and standards, may increase the benefits and improve the safety of rural POCUS.