Published in Annals of family medicineA research team at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine found that implementing point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) to assess the viability and gestational age of pregnancies in the first trimester improved the care of pregnant patients and reduced emergency visits by 81% for those who did not abort. patients.
Previously, early pregnancy care was provided through separate appointments for ultrasound, risk assessment, and patient education. This new integrated approach allows patients less than 14 weeks pregnant to receive comprehensive care during a single visit. This includes ultrasound-based pregnancy dating, immediate assessment of pregnancy viability, risk assessment and on-site counselling, all based on real-time ultrasound results.
“Our study demonstrates that the use of point-of-care ultrasound provides significant benefit to the patients we care for by addressing early pregnancy problems at the time they are identified,” said Allison Newman, MD, assistant professor of U of M Medical. M Health Fairview School and Family Practice Physician. “POCUS in early pregnancy helps doctors diagnose problems more efficiently and accurately without compromising the quality of necessary first trimester evaluations, saving patients time, money and stress.”
The research team introduced this integrated approach at M Health Fairview Clinic in Bethesda in the fall of 2022, allowing the clinic to quickly identify high-risk cases and offer timely intervention for problems such as miscarriages or abnormal pregnancies. They found:
- The clinic saw an 81% reduction in emergency visits, urgent clinic appointments and telephone consultations during the first trimester for non-abortive patients.
- Clinical implementation led to more timely diagnosis of abnormal pregnancies and improved education and support for all patients, including those experiencing miscarriage.
- In miscarriage cases, the time from initial concern to diagnosis decreased from an average of 5.8 days to 1.7 days.
Suggested next steps include implementing the process more broadly within other family medicine practices and conducting a larger multi-site study.