Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Effect of Emergency Physician-Performed Point-of-Care Ultrasound and Radiology Department-Performed Ultrasound Examinations on the Emergency Department Length of Stay Among Pregnant Women at Less Than 20 Weeks' Gestation.
We sought to confirm retrospective studies that measured an approximately 20% reduction in emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS) in early-gestation pregnant women who receive emergency physician-performed point-of-care ultrasound (US) examinations rather than radiology department-performed US examinations for evaluation of intrauterine pregnancy (IUP). ⋯ Early-gestation pregnant ED patients requiring pelvic US were discharged earlier when point-of-care US was used rather than radiology US; however, this trial did not achieve our target of 30 minutes. Nevertheless, our data support the routine use of ED point-of-care US for IUP, saving the most time if a conclusive IUP is identified.