Greater insight for paediatric intensive care

Dr Gareth Jones with a SonoSite M-Turbo.
Paediatricians at Southampton General Hospital are using SonoSite’s M-Turbo point-of-care ultrasound systems to assess and monitor patients in the dedicated paediatric intensive care unit and during transport.
Consultant paediatric intensivist and anaesthetist Dr Gareth Jones explained the benefits of using bedside ultrasound for children: “Vascular access in small children can be a major challenge, and the development of point-of-care ultrasound has significantly helped in the placement of central lines in these potentially difficult patients. It has also helped us to develop our PICC line service, allowing us to target veins in the upper arm that weren’t accessible using conventional techniques.
“The large screen and image quality of the instrument ensure these lines are accurately placed, minimising risk in very young patients.”
Dr Jones continued: “The portability and robust nature of the M-Turbo is also well suited to use during our patient retrieval service; it can easily be taken in the ambulance or air ambulance to aid assessment and monitoring of critically ill young patients during transport from our satellite hospitals.”
See this report on page 16 of the February 2010 issue of RAD Magazine.