Perceived Barriers and Facilitators to the use of Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Clinicians in Oregon

Abstract

The use of Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) to provide clinical data beyond the history and physical examination is a relatively new practice for primary care providers and hospitalists. It takes many hours of dedicated ultrasound (US) training and practice to achieve POCUS proficiency; further, perceptions and attitudes of clinicians play a major role in adopting POCUS into daily clinical repertoire [1, 2]. Thus there are many possible barriers that could impede a clinician’s ability to develop the skillset to use POCUS in clinical practice. The state of Oregon encompasses vast rural and underserved areas where POCUS could be a useful resource to improve local patient care [3,4]. For this reason, a qualitative survey study was conducted to assess the perceived barriers of clinicians to the clinical incorporation of POCUS.