Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Peter J. Mariani MD on October 19, 2010 at 11:36am

Our dept is currently trialing/beta-testing one manufacturer's prototype. Truly hand-held units --as opposed to those only hand-carried ("HCUs")-- will eventually become mainstream. What'll limit the ongoing shrink won't be electronics/memory, but practicable screen size for the eye of the human operator.

Peter J. Mariani MD
Professor of Emergency Medicine
SUNY Upstate Medical University
Syracuse NY 13210
http://www.upstate.edu/emergency/faculty.php?ID=marianip

Permalink Reply by Pattie Smith, RDMS on November 9, 2010 at 12:27pm

What machine do you currently use at your facility?

Permalink Reply by Peter J. Mariani MD on November 9, 2010 at 2:55pm

We currently use Sonosites (Titan and MTurbo) as standard clinical purpose units.
The ultra-small prototype was eval'd under proprietary agreement with its manufacturer.
--PM

Permalink Reply by Phil Andrus on November 12, 2010 at 12:17pm

Peter,

Although screen size may limit units getting smaller, aren't the current hand held units small enough? I can see putting a v-scan in my pocket on shift. On the other hand, It would be even simpler to have a probe that plugs in to my iPhone's headphone port....

Phil

Permalink Reply by Peter J. Mariani MD on November 12, 2010 at 5:05pm

For my purposes of ED or hospice home visits, current standard portable machines are plenty small enough for me. If I were trekking in the 3rd world bush or perhaps passing an instrument down a test shaft to Chilean miners, the philosophy might be "You can never be too rich or too small." I agree there'd be little gain to going smaller than an iPhone CPU/screen.
--PM

Permalink Reply by Bret P. Nelson, MD, RDMS on December 8, 2010 at 12:23am

Although these new machines are convenient and portable, they generally lack easy ways to input patient data, send images to a server, etc. As image storage requirements become more of an issue (billing compliance, QA, etc.) it may be more difficult for providers to "get away" with studies that are not documented. These small devices bring up lots of interesting questions as well as great promise- echoes of the debates surrounding the first portable machines in the 1990s.