POCUS in Motion: Life-Saving Decisions Before the Hospital
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is increasingly being used by EMS clinicians to assess patients and support faster, more informed clinical decisions before they reach the hospital.In this webinar, Nick Simpson, MD, FACEP, FAEMS, Chief Medical Director at Hennepin EMS, shares practical lessons from building and implementing Hennepin’s EMS POCUS program. Through real-world cases involving dyspnea, trauma, and cardiac arrest, Dr. Simpson explores how POCUS can support prehospital assessment and decision-making—and what it takes to successfully integrate ultrasound into EMS clinical practice.In this webinar, you’ll learn:
- How to build and sustain an EMS POCUS program, including key considerations for implementation and long-term adoption.
- Common challenges in EMS ultrasound implementation and practical lessons learned from real-world experience.
- How POCUS can support the prehospital assessment of dyspnea, trauma, and cardiac arrest.
- How to integrate ultrasound into EMS workflows, including training, clinical protocols, and ongoing skill development.
- Best practices for incorporating POCUS into prehospital care and building a program that can be sustained over time.
Watch the on-demand webinar to learn how EMS teams can use POCUS to support faster, more informed decision-making in the field.
Key Questions from the Webinar
Does adding POCUS to pre-hospital workflows slow paramedics down?
Not when implemented correctly. For medical cases like shortness of breath, lung ultrasound takes 1–2 minutes on scene and enables paramedics to start the right treatment — CPAP, nitroglycerin — before arrival. At Hennepin EMS, patients with pre-hospital-confirmed pulmonary edema arrive pre-treated and are often stable within 20 minutes of ED arrival, compared to 90–120 minutes for patients who weren't diagnosed until the ED. For trauma, a negative FAST exam supports lower acuity transport; a positive one lets the ED prepare resources before the patient arrives.
How should EMS agencies train paramedics on POCUS?
Start with one exam — lung ultrasound — before adding others. Hennepin EMS rolled out thoracic-only training to its full service of 210 paramedics: two views, yes-or-no B-lines. No undressing required, easy to QA, binary clinical decision. Cardiac and ultrasound-guided IVs were added later. The other critical component is a closed feedback loop: every image is reviewed and paramedics receive feedback on interpretation, image quality, and settings. Programs without structured QA see engagement drop within months. Competency builds through volume and feedback, not a set number of proctored exams.
What is the ROI of pre-hospital POCUS?
EMS correctly identifies CHF in only 15–25% of shortness-of-breath patients without ultrasound. Misdiagnosed patients are often given albuterol, which worsens heart failure, and receive correct treatment 90–120 minutes later than patients diagnosed in the field. Pre-hospital POCUS compresses ED care by delivering pre-treated patients with known diagnoses, reducing time to disposition, ED length of stay, and ICU utilization. Hennepin EMS has completed over 11,000 pre-hospital ultrasound exams. Formal cost-outcome data is forthcoming; the clinical case is already established.