Quick diagnoses in emergency care

“Our department is one of the busiest in the country: we saw around 120,000 new patients in 2007, and we have a fairly active resuscitation unit, treating all types of conditions from trauma to medically unwell patients,” said Dr Peter Bradley, emergency medicine consultant at the hospital.

“Ultrasound imaging is an essential tool for emergency medicine. We currently use the MicroMaxx for procedures such as FAST (Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma) scanning, to check instantly for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) and to guide central line insertions.

“All six of our consultants have begun ultrasound training and we plan to use the MicroMaxx for more applications in the future, including femoral nerve blocks.”