Aortic Disease, Dyspnea, Heart Disease, Kidney Disease, Liver Disease
Conditions
Keywords
Echocardiography, Heart failure, Ultrasonography, pocket-size device, Aorta, Education
Brief summary
Ultrasound (US) is widely used as a diagnostic tool in a hospital setting. In a medical department, diagnosis like heart failure or most kinds of heart diseases, hypervolemia, hypovolemia, pleural effusion, pericardial effusion, ascites, diseases in the gall bladder/bile tract, urine tract and venous thrombosis are common. US is the key diagnostic tool in these diagnosis, and on early diagnosis is crucial with respect to the patients well-being and inpatients workflow. 1\. The aim is to study the clinical use of pocket-size US as a screening diagnostic tool in an medical department with respect to inpatients workflow and diagnostics. Method: Patients admitted (in certain preset periods) to Department of medicine will be randomized to routinely adding an ultrasound examination with pocket-size device by residents on call. Time to definitive diagnosis, time to definitive treatment and time to discard will be recorded. US findings will be validated against standard echocardiography, or standard US/CT/MRI performed at the Radiological department.
Interventions
PROCEDUREPocket-size ultrasonography
Routinely adding a ultrasound examination of the heart, pleura, great abdominal vessels, liver/gall bladder and kidneys at patients admittance to hospital
OTHERUsual care
No intervention, except for usual care (goal-directed diagnostics)
Sponsors
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Helse Nord-Trøndelag HF
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
16 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Patients admitted to Dep. of Medicine at Levanger Hospital
Exclusion criteria
* Not able to give informed consent
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Time to definitive diagnosis | 3 months | Time from admittance to definitive diagnosis |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Test-retest reproducibility | 3 months | Pocket-sized ultrasound recordings by residents will be validated against reference methods (echocardiography and radiologic examinations by sepcialists)to assess sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of pocket-size ultrasound. |
| Diagnostic outcome of additional ultrasound examination according to educational level of the performer | 3 months | Study the diagnostic outcome of ultrasound screening related to the educational level and skills of the user |
| Time to definitive treatment | 3 months | Time from admittance to definitive treatment |
| Time to discharge | 3 months | Time from patients admittance to discharge from hospital |
Countries
Norway
Outcome results
None listed