POC Ultrasound Enhances Early Pregnancy Care and Cuts Emergency Visits

Image: The addition of POC ultrasound can enhance first trimester obstetrical care (Photo courtesy of 123RF)

A new study has found that implementing point-of-care ultrasounds (POCUS) in clinics to assess the viability and gestational age of pregnancies in the first trimester improved care for pregnant patients and reduced emergency visits by 81% for non-miscarrying patients.

In the past, early pregnancy care at the clinic involved separate appointments for ultrasound, risk assessments, and patient education. The new integrated approach introduced by researchers from the University of Minnesota Medical School (Minneapolis, MN, USA) allows patients under 14 weeks pregnant to receive comprehensive care in a single visit. This includes ultrasound-based pregnancy dating, immediate evaluation of pregnancy viability, risk assessment, and on-site counseling, all informed by real-time ultrasound results. The integrated model enabled the clinic to quickly identify high-risk cases and provide timely interventions for issues such as miscarriage or abnormal pregnancies.

The results, published in Annals of Family Medicine, show that emergency visits, urgent clinic appointments, and first-trimester phone inquiries for non-miscarrying patients dropped by 81%. The implementation of POCUS also led to more prompt diagnoses of abnormal pregnancies and enhanced education and support for all patients, including those experiencing miscarriage. For miscarriage cases, the time from initial concern to diagnosis decreased from an average of 5.8 days to 1.7 days. Encouraged by these positive results, the researchers recommend expanding the process to other family medicine practices and conducting a broader study across multiple sites.