Guideline No. 421: Point of Care Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology

To provide an opinion regarding the usefulness of point of care ultrasound in obstetrics and gynaecology.

Women with pregnancy-related complications or issues who could benefit from an urgent bedside sonographic evaluation.

Point of care ultrasound is a readily accessible option, requiring few resources.

This low-cost imaging option can expedite appropriate patient management, enhance provider confidence, and allay the patient's anxiety in a timely fashion. However, there is potential for error in imaging or interpretation, resulting in incorrect and potentially harmful patient management.

MEDLINE, PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library weres earched from 2009 to 2019. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and keywords were related to pregnancy, PoCUS, point of care ultrasound, and bedside ultrasound. This document represents an abstraction of the evidence rather than a methodological review.

The authors rated the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. See online Appendix A (Tables A1 for definitions and A2 for interpretations of strong and weak recommendations).

Providers of urgent care for pregnant women (obstetricians and gynaecologists, family physicians, emergency room physicians, midwives, nurse practitioners, nurses).

RECOMMENDATIONS (GRADE RATINGS IN PARENTHESES).

Published by Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology Canada : JOGC = Journal d'obstetrique et gynecologie du Canada : JOGC, 2021. The guideline itself is at the source linked here.

doi.org/10.1016/j.jogc.2021.07.003