{"title":"POCUS-Assisted Therapeutic Thoracentesis.","authors":"Major William C Moreo, Kelly Ball","doi":"10.1097/TME.0000000000000595","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Therapeutic thoracentesis is an invasive procedure performed to relieve symptoms in patients with large pleural effusions identified on diagnostic imaging. Untreated effusions can lead to respiratory compromise or hemodynamic instability. Factors such as poor patient compliance, worsening disease progression, or limited outpatient follow-up availability may increase the need for therapeutic thoracentesis in the emergency department (ED). This article provides a comprehensive overview of the procedure with point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) guidance and discusses indications, contraindications, and post-procedure care in the ED setting. Competence in thoracentesis and POCUS enables the emergency nurse practitioner to optimize procedural utilization and deliver safe, high-quality care for patients with significant pleural effusions.</p>","PeriodicalId":45446,"journal":{"name":"Advanced Emergency Nursing Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Advanced Emergency Nursing Journal","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1097/TME.0000000000000595","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"NURSING","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Therapeutic thoracentesis is an invasive procedure performed to relieve symptoms in patients with large pleural effusions identified on diagnostic imaging. Untreated effusions can lead to respiratory compromise or hemodynamic instability. Factors such as poor patient compliance, worsening disease progression, or limited outpatient follow-up availability may increase the need for therapeutic thoracentesis in the emergency department (ED). This article provides a comprehensive overview of the procedure with point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) guidance and discusses indications, contraindications, and post-procedure care in the ED setting. Competence in thoracentesis and POCUS enables the emergency nurse practitioner to optimize procedural utilization and deliver safe, high-quality care for patients with significant pleural effusions.
期刊介绍:
Advanced Emergency Nursing Journal is a peer-reviewed journal designed to meet the needs of advanced practice clinicians, clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners, healthcare professionals, and clinical and academic educators in emergency nursing. Articles contain evidence-based material that can be applied to daily practice. Continuing Education opportunities are available in each issue. Feature articles focus on in-depth, state of the science content relevant to advanced practice nurses and experienced clinicians in emergency care. Ongoing Departments Include: Cases of Note Radiology Rounds Research to Practice Applied Pharmacology