What’s Next for POCUS in Emergency Medicine? Lessons from ACEP26
What’s next for point-of-care ultrasound in emergency medicine? From practical applications of AI to better workflows, ACEP26 offered a look at where POCUS is heading—and what emergency physicians need to know.
Watch Rachel Liu, MD, FACEP, of Yale School of Medicine, and Rob Ferre, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, alongside Butterfly Network’s Arun Nagdev, MD, and Sachita Shah, MD, as they unpack the biggest takeaways from ACEP26.
The conversation explores:
- Connecting bedside scanning with documentation, image review, and the EHR
- Where AI could help with education, quality assurance, and administrative tasks
- Expanding POCUS into EMS, with training tailored to each agency’s needs
- Updates in early pregnancy ultrasound terminology
- Progress toward interoperability and better visibility into ultrasound program performance
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Key Questions from the Webinar
How is AI being used in point-of-care ultrasound in emergency medicine?
AI applications in point-of-care ultrasound include image acquisition guidance, automated measurements, education, and image review. In this webinar, the panel discusses opportunities to use AI for documentation, quality assurance, and administrative tasks. The speakers emphasize that adoption depends on solving everyday clinical and operational problems and fitting into emergency physicians’ existing workflows.
What is an encounter-based POCUS workflow?
An encounter-based POCUS workflow supports ultrasound performed by the treating clinician during a patient visit. It connects bedside scanning with patient identification, image storage, documentation, quality assurance, and the electronic health record. In the webinar, the panel discusses why emergency departments need workflows designed around this process and how better integration could help address “ghost scans”—exams that are performed but not fully captured in documentation, review, or billing.
What were the key POCUS takeaways from ACEP26 for emergency physicians?
The webinar panel highlights workflow integration, practical AI applications, and the expansion of POCUS into EMS as key ACEP26 takeaways. Other topics include interoperability standards, analytics for managing ultrasound programs, infection prevention, and updated terminology for early pregnancy ultrasound. For EMS, the speakers emphasize tailoring applications and training to local clinical needs, transport times, and medical oversight.