Consensus‐based ethical best practices for performing educational point‐of‐care ultrasonography in the emergency department

Objectives There is no standardized protocol for performing educational point‐of‐care ultrasonography (POCUS) that addresses patient‐centered ethical issues such as obtaining informed consent. This study sought to define principles for ethical application of educational POCUS and develop consensus‐b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	AEM education and training Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. e10963 - n/a
Main Authors:	Chao, Samantha K., Liu, Yiju T., Kropf, Charles W., Huang, Robert D., Theyyunni, Nik, Taylor, Lindsay A., Firn, Janice I., Kessler, Ross, Micheller, Daniel R., Battles, Alethia J., Rosculet, Natalja P., Ager, Emily E., Valentyne, Alyssa A., Schellack, Christine J., Hennessy, John P., White, Cameron, Tucker, Ryan V.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States John Wiley and Sons Inc 01-04-2024
Subjects:	Original Contribution
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Objectives There is no standardized protocol for performing educational point‐of‐care ultrasonography (POCUS) that addresses patient‐centered ethical issues such as obtaining informed consent. This study sought to define principles for ethical application of educational POCUS and develop consensus‐based best practice guidance. Methods A questionnaire was developed by a trained ethicist after literature review with the help of a medical librarian. A diverse panel including experts in medical education, law, and bioethics; medical trainees; and individuals with no medical background was convened. The panel voted on their level of agreement with ethical principles and degree of appropriateness of behaviors in three rounds of a modified Delphi process. A high level of agreement was defined as 80% or greater consensus. Results Panelists voted on 38 total items: 15 related to the patient consent and selection process, eight related to practices while performing educational POCUS, and 15 scenarios involving POCUS application. A high level of agreement was achieved for 13 items related to patient consent and selection, eight items related to performance practices, and 10 scenarios of POCUS application. Conclusions Based on expert consensus, ethical best practices include obtaining informed consent before performing educational POCUS, allowing patients to decline educational POCUS, informing patients the examination is not intended to be a part of their medical evaluation and is not billed, using appropriate draping techniques, maintaining a professional environment, and disclosing incidental findings in coordination with the primary team caring for the patient. These practices could be implemented at institutions to encourage ethical use of educational POCUS when training physicians, fellows, residents, and medical students.
Bibliography:	Presented at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Annual Meeting, Austin, TX, May 2023. Supervising Editor Michael Gottlieb ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Supervising Editor: Michael Gottlieb
ISSN:	2472-5390 2472-5390
DOI:	10.1002/aet2.10963