Ultrasound in Medical Practice

Blog Post By Vicki E. Noble MD, RDMS, FACEP is Director, Division of Emergency Ultrasound, Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Over the last 15 years, there has been a seismic shift in how and when ultrasound is used by medical professionals.  Increasingly, physicians, nurse midwives, nurse practitioners and other medical professional staff have started to incorporate bedside diagnostic ultrasound into their patient evaluation (1).  The types of evaluations and the applications specific to different specialty practices vary, but the increasing availability of a bedside diagnostic imaging test has been encouraged by the rapid rate of technology evolution as ultrasound machines have become more portable, cheaper and easier to use.