Remote out-of-hours ultrasound live supervision in pediatrics - improvement of diagnostics and training.

Abstract

Purpose: Ultrasound (US) is the preferred imaging modality in pediatrics for diagnostic and therapeutic issues. The absence of radiation and the constant on-site accessibility make it the ideal tool for children. However, despite remarkable technical advances in resolution and applicability, many sophisticated medical questions still require profound expertise on the part of the examiner, thus often hampering fast decisions particularly outside regular working hours.

Materials and methods: This single-center study, at a university children's hospital evaluated the use of US during emergency service. A four-week documentation period was followed by a subsequent eight-week supervision period with live supervision availability on demand guided by a remote US expert. The demand for expert support, diagnosis, grading of urgency, duration and success of examination, and satisfaction of both examiners were analyzed.

Results: 108 patients (mean age 9.7 years) were included. In 38% of cases, US was supervised on demand with a definite diagnosis in 92.6% of cases (25/27). Image quality and technical performance were graded sufficient in 100% of cases. Supervised compared to non-supervised US examinations were prolonged (14.4 min vs. 7.1 min, p<0.001), were more prevalent within the first 24 h in the hospital (70% vs. 56.8%, p=0.06), and were classified more frequently as emergency (22.2% vs. 2.3%; p=0.015). All participants classified the availability of US supervision as decisively helpful.

Conclusion: Remote live supervised pediatric US was feasible and effective. It combined timely, high-quality diagnostics even in the case of challenging medical questions with simultaneous US training.