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General practitioners (GPs) are “the decathletes of the medical world,” according to Dr. Lee Pursglove. Like athletes who excel across multiple sports, GPs need to understand every part of the human body at a high level so they can examine patients, identify abnormal pathologies, refer them to specialists, and recommend treatment, all from within their primary care practice. But without advanced diagnostic tools, they’re working with limited information, making it harder to answer critical questions and guide patient care.

To Dr. Pursglove, the solution to this problem is clear: point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) for primary care. A strong advocate for POCUS and a GP at Vocare in Northumberland, England, he believes that ultrasound will transform primary care—and he trusts the Butterfly iQ3 as the handheld ultrasound device to do it.

Dr. Pursglove shares how POCUS enhances primary care, what stands out about the Butterfly device, and why ultrasound is the future for general practitioners.

One GP’s Journey to POCUS

Dr. Pursglove has practiced medicine for more than a decade and became a GP 5 years ago. He first encountered physicians using bedside ultrasound in an emergency department when working in Australia in 2016. When he began general practice training in England shortly after, he saw the potential of ultrasound right away.

Dr. Pursglove believes now is the ideal time for POCUS in primary care, thanks to several key factors:

• Handheld ultrasound devices are smaller and more portable than ever.
• The technology has become more cost-effective.
• Advances in imaging and storage have significantly improved quality and usability.

“Family physicians have a responsibility to appraise technology for the benefit of the patient,” Dr. Pursglove explains. “We’ve now got the option to improve and change patient care.”  He also points out the value of bringing advanced diagnostics to the patient, which can prevent or expedite hospital transport in some cases and advance access to care for marginalized populations.

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How POCUS Enhances Care for General Practitioners

POCUS delivers immediate value for primary care physicians in the everyday scenarios they navigate with patients.

Venous Access

When a GP needs to draw blood from a patient but is having difficulty finding a vein, the physician can use Butterfly’s Biplane Imaging™ function to quickly gain a transverse and longitudinal view of the same vessel. Then, they can guide the needle through the skin into the vein with the aid of the view of both axes. Any GP who’s doing interventional work such as injection therapy can also use a handheld ultrasound device to place the needle and increase the chance of success in therapeutic care.

Follow-up Care

General practitioners can rely on ultrasound when examining a patient after a major procedure. For example, if a patient recently had hip replacement and later experiences pain and redness around the incision, Dr. Pursglove uses the handheld ultrasound device to scan the area. An abscess near the cut can signal an infected joint prosthesis. In cases like these, he can share the ultrasound image with the hospital team to coordinate follow-up care for complications.

Patient Collaboration

Handheld ultrasound devices like the Butterfly iQ3 offer primary care physicians a tactile, hands-on experience with the patient. POCUS encourages physicians to think more anatomically and physiologically than they often do in practice, enabling GPs to answer questions quickly, reassure patients, and initiate next steps.

Dr. Pursglove also notes that patients welcome the use of ultrasound during their exams. When patients have a concerning symptom, POCUS equips the physician to rule out the worst-case scenario within seconds.

Ultrasound enables GPs to engage their patients in their care — physicians can visually display the problem to them, explain it in greater detail, and help them understand how to deal with it. That’s transformative care.

POCUS in Action: One Patient’s Story

For Dr. Pursglove, the Butterfly iQ3 played a key role in a recent patient interaction. During a home visit, an 86-year-old patient was experiencing shortness of breath and had a wet cough but was otherwise well. The patient’s wife explained that he had recently had a heart attack and been discharged with 15 medications total, including his regular dosage and additional medicines for the heart attack.

Dr. Pursglove took in the patient’s symptoms and noticed right away that the presentation was consistent with a pleural effusion. Within seconds, he pulled out his phone and plugged in the iQ3, scanned the patient’s chest and back, and identified a large pleural effusion on both sides. That led Dr. Pursglove to uncover that, although the patient should have been taking a diuretic to prevent water from developing in his chest, he didn’t have one in his medications.

POCUS not only helped Dr. Pursglove confidently diagnose the patient’s condition quickly with less harm to the patient than with more invasive methods, but also guided the next steps in their care. As a result, this elderly patient avoided a visit to the hospital, and Dr. Pursglove educated the patient and his caretaker about his pathology and needed course of care. Plus, with the ultrasound images added to the patient’s record, his usual GP could later monitor the patient’s progress compared to the original scan. “Having the ultrasound there made the diagnosis very quick and very clear,” says Dr. Pursglove.

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Why the Butterfly iQ3 Wins for GPs: Features and Benefits

The Butterfly iQ3 is ideal for busy general practitioners, providing the flexibility, accessibility, and user-friendly experience they need to efficiently scan patients, assess symptoms, and determine next steps with confidence.

Dr. Pursglove notes several standout features of the device:

• Form factor. The compact size of the probe and scanner head makes it easy for GPs to use. “It’s a very ergonomic, well-weighted device,” he says.
• Reliable connection. With a wired connection to a smartphone or tablet, iQ3 boots up quickly without lag or choppiness between images.
• High image quality. Dr. Pursglove notes that iQ3 is a huge step forward in terms of image quality. “This now opens the door to more scanning options. You can answer more clinical questions because the scanner is improved,” he explains.
• Ultrasound-on-Chip™ Technology. Chip-based handheld devices bring advanced ultrasound capabilities to GPs, offering features such as Biplane Imaging™, iQ Slice Mode, and automatic bladder volume calculation. While these capabilities exist in some piezoelectric-based systems, the chip-based design enables a more compact, integrated solution that enhances usability and accessibility in clinical practice.
• AI-powered scanning. Butterfly handheld devices are equipped with AI features to guide imaging and probe positioning during a scan to answer a specific question or identify normal and abnormal features.
• Cloud image storage. Uploading scan images to the Butterfly Cloud not only enables an efficient process for GPs but also supports teaching and mentoring. The cloud storage enables in-depth analytics and image retrieval for educational purposes.

When general practitioners need efficient, effective diagnostics while examining their patients, the Butterfly delivers the usability and advanced technology they’re looking for.

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Ultrasound Is Ushering in the Next Phase of Primary Care

Dr. Pursglove points out that family physicians and general practitioners are one of the last groups to adopt ultrasound. “My message to other primary care GPs is that we have this fantastic technology that has improved and become more cost-effective. Now, we can use it and make a difference,” he says.

He predicts that upcoming cohorts of doctors will receive ultrasound training and be ready to use handheld ultrasound from day one. He advises other mid-career GPs to adopt the technology now so they can remain in step with what is clearly the future of primary care.