Early adopter Frimley Park keeps benefiting from point-of-care ultrasound
Consultant anaesthetist Dr Tim Pepall has used SonoSite ultrasound systems for the past decade.
Frimley Park Hospital’s anaesthesia department is using point-of-care (POC) ultrasound to guide procedures such as vascular access and nerve blocks. Consultant anaesthetist Dr Tim Pepall explained: “It’s essential to use ultrasound for central vascular access because of NICE guidelines, but we also use it occasionally for difficult peripheral vascular access and arterial lines.
“Ultrasound has transformed regional anaesthetic practice and we were relatively early adopters of it. It made sense to see the nerves, rather than going in blind. There is so much variation in nerve and vascular anatomy that you realise your previous techniques were really feeling in the dark. Nowadays, I would be very reluctant to do a plexus block without an ultrasound machine.”
Read the full report on page 19 of the August 2018 issue of RAD Magazine.
