When the ball dropped on January 1st, 2020, ringing in the new year, no one could’ve predicted what was to come. Within the first 100 days of 2020, basketball legend Kobe Bryant passed in a helicopter crash, the UK withdrew from the EU, and a global pandemic broke out. A few months ago, the notion of being confined in homes and toilet paper being worth more than gold would’ve been absurd.
The only certainty in today’s environment is uncertainty. The only way to properly prepare for a dynamic and unpredictable future is to expect the unexpected and train accordingly. One way to prepare for the unknown is to embrace transformational change.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the world of medicine quickly learned to make additional room for the future — point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). The lesson being that POCUS is vital to every healthcare professional, even if imaging is not standard in one’s everyday practice. No one could have foreseen COVID-19, but medical professionals could tackle it by being proficient and experienced at this rising modality within healthcare.
The POCUS Certification Academy™ interviewed Dr. Yale Tung Chen for the Focus on POCUS™ podcast, in which he shared how instrumental POCUS has been in viewing and monitoring the lungs. It has proven to be quite significant in tracking and understanding the development of COVID-19.
In battling this virus, retired healthcare workers returned to work, and entire hospitals morphed into COVID-19 centers. Medical facilities like Kaiser called back staff members to work outside of their normal scope to aid in caring for coronavirus patients. The whole world has and is adapting, especially in the medical arena.
In this unprecedented era and any other unique moments that may be underway, one of the most reliable methods to prepare for what may come is to embrace the new today.
POCUS is transforming medicine, and standardization of it is crucial for the future. The POCUS Certification Academy™ is working on developing global POCUS core practice domains with its POCUS25 initiative. POCUS25 is an index of 25 point-of-care ultrasound procedures and protocols identified as core POCUS skills.
With the completion of this list, the aim is to be a global resource used for educating and training on the top 25 ultrasound practices. Mastery of these practices defines one’s expertise in POCUS. POCUS25 will not be stagnant in its orientation. As the world of medicine evolves, POCUS25 will develop right alongside it.
POCUS Certification Academy™ is seeking input from POCUS users around the globe to define the POCUS25 list. Click here to learn more and share your knowledge. Be a part of the change before change occurs.
Expect the unexpected.
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