Frimley Park consultant uses POC ultrasound at the bedside

Dr Madan Narayanan with a SonoSite system.

Frimley Park Hospital’s anaesthesia and intensive care departments depend upon point-of-care ultrasound (POC) ultrasound procedures to guide and provide bedside diagnostics.  Dr Madan Narayanan, a consultant anaesthetist with international teaching experience, explained: “We use ultrasound for lung and heart scans, vascular access and to guide injections for regional blocks in hand, arm and forearm surgery.  The main benefit of nerve blocks is that we can avoid general anaesthetic so patients can return home sooner, with longer lasting pain relief.  Ultrasound is a simple, non-invasive and easily available protocol that has become a normal part of practice.”

The six Fujifilm SonoSite instruments being used comprise an older MicroMaxx, four S-Nerve instruments and an X-Porte.  “We predominantly use the MicroMaxx in the ICU, and the S-Nerves for simple blocks, enabling us to prioritise the X-Porte for more advanced ultrasound, such as deep nerve blocks or heart and lung scanning.”

See the full report on page 26 of the February 2018 issue of RAD Magazine.