Family Medicine Ultrasound (FAMUS): Prevalence in the academic family medicine office

Objectives: Bedside ultrasound is being increasingly integrated into clinical practice as an adjunct to the physical examination and patient history. The use of bedside ultrasound by family physicians has been termed FAMUS... [ view full abstract ]

Objectives: Bedside ultrasound is being increasingly integrated into clinical practice as an adjunct to the physical examination and patient history. The use of bedside ultrasound by family physicians has been termed FAMUS (family medicine ultrasound). The prevalence of FAMUS in Quebec, Canada is unknown. Here we investigate the prevalence of FAMUS in urban versus rural settings, the profile of physicians who use or do not use bedside ultrasound, and the obstacles for using bedside ultrasound in the academic office setting.

Design: We carried out a cross-sectional survey on bedside ultrasound use in primary care offices associated with the Université de Laval in Quebec, Canada. The web-based anonymous survey consisted of 24 multiple-choice questions and was completed over a period of 3 weeks in 2016. The population studied consisted of 200 family physicians from 12 accredited urban and rural family medicine residency sites. Our data was collected using ‘Survey Monkey’ and data was entered into an electronic database on the survey website.

Results: A response rate 52% was achieved (103 out of 200 physicians). Of physicians who responded to the survey, 21% use bedside ultrasound in their office practice. Bedside ultrasound using physicians: 1) were mostly urban based (82%) vs rural based (18%), 2) use ultrasound on a weekly basis (55%), 3) use ultrasound as an adjunct to the obstetrical and/or gynecological exam (91%), 4) have a mixture of formal and informal training, 5) document their findings in writing without saving images (96%), and 6) do not have a quality control method established to review their scans (0%). Ultrasound-user and non-user physicians were not different in terms of gender, age (greater or lesser than 40), and emergency room practice. The three most common obstacles to non-users were the cost of the ultrasound machine (70%), the time required to train (63%), and the lack of pertinence in current practice (41%). Whether or not they used bedside ultrasound, over 50% of physicians believe bedside ultrasound should be part of family medicine residency training.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that there is a greater use of FAMUS in urban than in rural sites by physicians at the Université de Laval in Quebec, Canada. The low overall prevalence of FAMUS relates to cost and time constraints more than to a perceived lack of pertinence to their practice.