Anesthesiologists Shape Perioperative Clinical Decision-Making with Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Mentor Information
Donna Gambino
Description
POCUS is increasingly used by anesthesiologists during perioperative care to support clinical decision-making by providing rapid bedside imaging, POCUS can assist clinicians in evaluating patient status, identifying potential risks, and determining appropriate interventions. Understanding how anesthesiologists incorporate POCUS findings into their clinical decision-making processes is important in order to optimize perioperative care and guide future training and implementation of this technology. A Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was conducted to identify differences across groups. The independent variable was the type of POCUS examination. The dependent variables included:1) the patient was pre-op, 2) history was available, 3) overall risk potential, 4) aspiration potential, 5) POCUS scan answered the clinical question, 6) intervention utilized, and 7) changes in the plan of care. MANOVA findings were statistically significant. One-way ANOVA contrasts identified four significant Criteria: 1) For the criterion ‘Perioperative Status of the Patients’, patients (64%) received scans during the pre-operative stage (p < 0.05); 2) For the criterion ‘Overall Risk Potential’ most patients (95%) possessed some type of overall risk (p < 0.05); 3) For the criterion ‘Aspiration Potential’ approximately one-third of patients (36%) were specifically at risk for aspiration (p < 0.0001) and 4) For the criterion ‘Cardiovascular Hemodynamics’, less than half of the patients (41%) were identified with issues related to cardiovascular hemodynamics (p < 0.001). Findings suggest that POCUS plays an important role in anesthesiologists’ perioperative clinical decision-making processes. Continued integration of POCUS into anesthesiology practice may improve clinical assessment and support timely interventions that enhance patient quality outcomes.
Anesthesiologists Shape Perioperative Clinical Decision-Making with Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)
POCUS is increasingly used by anesthesiologists during perioperative care to support clinical decision-making by providing rapid bedside imaging, POCUS can assist clinicians in evaluating patient status, identifying potential risks, and determining appropriate interventions. Understanding how anesthesiologists incorporate POCUS findings into their clinical decision-making processes is important in order to optimize perioperative care and guide future training and implementation of this technology. A Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was conducted to identify differences across groups. The independent variable was the type of POCUS examination. The dependent variables included:1) the patient was pre-op, 2) history was available, 3) overall risk potential, 4) aspiration potential, 5) POCUS scan answered the clinical question, 6) intervention utilized, and 7) changes in the plan of care. MANOVA findings were statistically significant. One-way ANOVA contrasts identified four significant Criteria: 1) For the criterion ‘Perioperative Status of the Patients’, patients (64%) received scans during the pre-operative stage (p < 0.05); 2) For the criterion ‘Overall Risk Potential’ most patients (95%) possessed some type of overall risk (p < 0.05); 3) For the criterion ‘Aspiration Potential’ approximately one-third of patients (36%) were specifically at risk for aspiration (p < 0.0001) and 4) For the criterion ‘Cardiovascular Hemodynamics’, less than half of the patients (41%) were identified with issues related to cardiovascular hemodynamics (p < 0.001). Findings suggest that POCUS plays an important role in anesthesiologists’ perioperative clinical decision-making processes. Continued integration of POCUS into anesthesiology practice may improve clinical assessment and support timely interventions that enhance patient quality outcomes.
