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July 20, 2026

Beyond plumbing: the multidisciplinary ultrasound assessment of shock and hypotension in the emergency department

The management of shock is a time-critical challenge in emergency medicine and critical care. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has revolutionised this paradigm, offering rapid, non-invasive bedside assessments. Recognising its diagnostic power, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine formally mandates ‘ultrasound-assisted shock assessment’ as a core competency. However, shock is a profound systemic derangement requiring more than […]

Dr Nick Mani, Dr Gokul Sagar Bailur

POCUS UK

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July 24, 2026

We are working on it: building a sustainable governance model for point‑of‑care ultrasound

Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is now used widely across acute, community and primary care settings, supporting earlier clinical decision making and improving patient flow. As its use expands, imaging networks and clinical services increasingly recognise the need for a more consistent, governance led approach that aligns POCUS with wider diagnostic priorities. This is not […]

Dr Kalpana Lakhani

Independent clinical ultrasound consultant

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July 20, 2026

Focused POCUS for chest pain

This article explores the role of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in the assessment of patients presenting with acute chest pain. Traditionally associated with areas such as abdominal imaging, POCUS is increasingly being used by clinicians in emergency and acute care settings to help identify or exclude several life-threatening causes of chest pain. The author emphasises that […]

Dr Chris Yap

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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August 14, 2024

Never mind the morphine… regional anaesthesia outside of perioperative practice

There are few effective strategies for the management of acute severe pain. Opioid analgesics can be effective but are associated with many negative effects, including respiratory suppression, sedation and dependence. Local anaesthetics are an attractive alternative. They prevent conduction of nerve fibres by blocking sodium channels on the cell membrane and reduce the transmission of […]

James McPherson, Jonathan Womack

Northern Deanery, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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November 15, 2023

Point-of-care ultrasound: what is being imaged and for what purposes?

Across almost all healthcare settings, professions and specialisms, point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS; the immediate or concurrent integration of ultrasound imaging into delivery of care or decision making by a treating or triaging clinician) is a rapidly expanding field of ultrasound imaging. POCUS has the potential to increase patient accessibility to imaging-informed care and to create new […]

Dr Mike Smith

Cardiff University

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November 15, 2023

Point-of-care ultrasound and PACS

The use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has been spreading over the past two decades. It is performed outside of the radiology department and may take place in the emergency department (ED), intensive care unit, inpatient ward, operating room, outpatients or in the pre-hospital environment. There has been a growing adoption of POCUS in recent years […]

Dr Chris Yap

Northern General Hospital

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November 15, 2023

Can point-of-care ultrasound reduce clinical demands on radiology?

At the same time as radiology departments experience workforce pressures across the whole multidisciplinary team, demands on radiology services are ever increasing. This leads to delays in the performance of examinations and subsequent reporting, and ultimately delays to appropriate patient care. Use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) as a tool aims to offer improved diagnostic accuracy […]

Dr Latif Rahman, Dr Florina Stanley, Dr Nicholas Smallwood

University Hospitals Leicester, Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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November 16, 2022

Point-of-care ultrasound in the global health and resource-limited setting

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is ultrasound that is used by the clinician at the bedside to answer immediate (often binary) clinical question and/or help guide procedures. It differs from what is often called consultative or ‘formal’ ultrasound in that it is performed at the bedside by the treating physician (images are not acquired by a technician […]