Pitfalls
- Interpretation is frequently the area where mistakes occur. Be careful to limit any comment to the clinical setting and to the experience gained. Ask an experienced operator to review scans that have been difficult to interpret and never make a definitive statement beyond what you actually know. For examaple:
- Finding free fluid in the peritoneum of a patient who has fallen and deducing that free blood is present. In fact the patient suffers from alcoholic liver disease and you are looking at long standing ascites. The appearances may be the same.
- Seeing free fluid only in the left hypochondrium in a FAST scan and stating that a splenic rupture is present
- Failing to record your findings in the patient’s notes. This can lead to a hearsay view of your findings which can mislead others. This can also readily occur with an EMUS, following which the patient goes to a ward. The ward staff, not mindful of the limitations of EMUS, consider that a normal scan has been carried out and that pathology has been eliminated.
- A less serious pitfall is to fail to adjust the lighting, or to fail to position the patient and machine optimally in relation to you, thereby reducing the opportunity for a quality image.
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