tailieunhanh - Báo cáo y học: "Do we need a critical care ultrasound certification program? Implications from an Australian medical-legal perspective"

Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về y học được đăng trên tạp chí y học quốc tế cung cấp cho các bạn kiến thức về ngành y đề tài: Do we need a critical care ultrasound certification program? Implications from an Australian medical-legal perspective. | Huang and McLean Critical Care 2010 14 313 http content 14 3 313 CRITICAL CARE VIEWPOINT L_ Do we need a critical care ultrasound certification program Implications from an Australian medical-legal perspective Stephen J Huang and Anthony S McLean Abstract Medical practitioners have a duty to maintain a certain standard of care in providing their services. With critical care ultrasound gaining popularity in the ICU it is envisaged that more intensivists will use the tool in managing their patients. Ultrasound especially echocardiography can be an easy to learn difficult to manage skill and the competency in performing the procedure varies greatly. In view of this several recommendations for competency statements have been published in recent years to advocate the need for a unified approach to training and certification. In this paper we take a slightly different perspective from an Australian medical-legal viewpoint to argue for the need to implement a critical care ultrasound certification program. We examine various issues that can potentially lead to a breach of the standard of care hence exposing the practitioners and or the healthcare institutions to lawsuits in professional negligence or breach of contract. These issues among others include the failure to use ultrasound in appropriate situations the failure of hospitals to ensure practitioners are properly trained in the skills the failure of practitioners to perform an ultrasound study that is of a reasonable standard and the failure of practitioners to keep themselves abreast of the latest developments in treatment and management. The implications of these issues and the importance of having a certification process are discussed. Introduction Although ultrasound has been used in various settings for decades it is only in the past 10 to 15 years that critical care physicians have increasingly become aware of its usefulness. For example critical care Correspondence mcleana@