Improving Fluid Resuscitation Through Dynamic Assessment With Wearable Doppler Point-of-Care Ultrasonography: A Quality Improvement Initiative

Objective

As a quality improvement initiative, dynamic point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) assessments were introduced to our large nonprofit academic medical center to improve adherence with society resuscitation guidelines. Sonography-guided volume resuscitation decisions were based on dynamic assessments and integration into workflow. Materials and Methods: The medical team independently assessed volume status using existing methods (eg, physical examination, static POCUS) in hypo-perfusing or hypotensive patients (N = 50). A wearable Doppler POCUS device was used to perform a dynamic assessment of fluid responsiveness, specifically measuring the change in stroke volume surrogate after preload challenge. The interventions and outcomes were followed over 3 subsequent days. An anonymous survey was sent to those clinicians involved in the project.