A Pediatric Cardiac POCUS Protocol

The pediatric literature for point of care ultrasound seems to lag behind that of adults. However, it has made some incredible strides to show that this is a tool that is not be neglected in our younger patients. Although point of care ultrasound is used routinely in adults, it may not be as frequently employed in the pediatric emergency department. Clearly, there are differences in cardiac pathology encountered in pediatrics, but the ultrasound can still have great utility. The authors of this paper seek to increase the use of cardiac POCUS by collaborating with cardiologists to create a focused cardiac ultrasound protocol. They collect data to see what happened to POCUS use after they institute this protocol and to see how accurate these scans hold up in kids!