Ultrasound in clinical enviroments: Where are we standing?

Background

Ultrasound is a simple, inexpensive, non-invasive, easily repeatable, and portable technique used to explore internal structures, that can be performed at the patient’s bedside or in medical offices, unlike Computerized Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), which require the presence of a specialist in radiology and of non-portable equipment installed in specific rooms. Ultrasonography can be performed for diagnostic purposes by any physician with adequate competence, regardless of the presence and type of specialization and this is one reason why ultrasound can be broadly defined as “medical,” as its execution is allowed simply with a medical degree or, limitedly to a few Countries, with a specific technical training.

Despite this very large applicability, unfortunately, there is still no official mandatory ultrasound teaching in the core curriculum of the Medical and Surgical Degree programs in many Countries either in Europe [1] or worldwide, despite several experts and scientific societies were publicly in favor of introducing it [2] [3]. At present, adequate ultrasound training is provided by Radiology and a few other Schools of Specialization, such as for instance Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Radiology, General Surgery, Cardiology, Vascular Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, etc. [4]. Training courses to become a General Practitioner offer such training. However, not any given local Specialty or General Practitioner Course offer adequate training in Ultrasound or any training at all, even in the above-mentioned disciplines.

In a few fields this choice is logical, as for instance a psychiatrist is unlikely to need specific knowledge in ultrasound, where in almost any other one an ultrasound competence would be needed.

Indeed, ultrasound requires specific operator competence, like any medical procedure, which is why dedicated courses and training environments independent of Medical Specialization Schools or General Medicine courses are necessary and continuously held. Indeed, EFSUMB itself has always paid great attention to Education, even at the undergraduate level in conjunction with its national societies [1] [2] [3]. This will definitively translate into a much more widespread daily use of ultrasound to support most medical diagnoses for in- and out-patients at any level.

Publication History

Article published online:
08 August 2023

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