title: Point-of-care ultrasound in the neonatal intensive care unit: international perspectives.
abstract: To explore international variation in implementation of point-of-care ultrasound in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), contributions were invited from neonatologists and paediatric cardiologists in six countries. The contributors show variation in national implementation that ranges from almost total coverage through to a minority of NICUs having point-of-care ultrasound capability. To a varying degree in all systems the main barriers have been concerns from the consultative specialties that traditionally use ultrasound, relating to the risk of misdiagnosis but also involving different clinical needs, liability concerns and lack of outcome-based evidence. All contributors agreed that safe point-of-care ultrasound depends on close collaboration with the consultative specialties and also that there is a need to develop training and accreditation structures for neonatologists using ultrasound.
authors.affiliation: Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia. nevans@med.usyd.edu.au
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Veronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gournay
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cabanas
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kluckow
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Leone
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Groves
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: McNamara
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mertens
mesh_terms: D004452:Echocardiography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems