Clinical Guidance for Point-of-Care Ultrasound in the Emergency and Critical Care Areas after Implementing Insurance Coverage in Korea.

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is a useful tool that is widely used in the emergency and intensive care areas. In Korea, insurance coverage of ultrasound examination has been gradually expanding in accordance with measures to enhance Korean National Insurance Coverage since 2017 to 2021, and which will continue until 2021. Full coverage of health insurance for POCUS in the emergency and critical care areas was implemented in July 2019. The National Health Insurance Act classified POCUS as a single or multiple-targeted ultrasound examination (STU vs. MTU). STU scans are conducted of one organ at a time, while MTU includes scanning of multiple organs simultaneously to determine each clinical situation. POCUS can be performed even if a diagnostic ultrasound examination is conducted, based on the physician's decision. However, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service plans to monitor the prescription status of whether the POCUS and diagnostic ultrasound examinations are prescribed simultaneously and repeatedly. Additionally, MTU is allowed only in cases of trauma, cardiac arrest, shock, chest pain, and dyspnea and should be performed by a qualified physician. Although physicians should scan all parts of the chest, heart, and abdomen when they prescribe MTU, they are not required to record all findings in the medical record. Therefore, appropriate prescription, application, and recording of POCUS are needed to enhance the quality of patient care and avoid unnecessary cut of medical budget spending. The present article provides background and clinical guidance for POCUS based on the implementation of full health insurance coverage for POCUS that began in July 2019 in Korea.

Assessment of emergency airway management techniques in Korea using an online registration system: a multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: The investigators developed a Web-based online registration system to identify the current status of trauma airway management. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to identify first-pass success (FPS) rate of the intubation methods and devices that are currently used, as well as the factors that affect FPS in trauma patients. METHODS: This study was designed as a prospective, observational multi-center study. We obtained clinical data of intubated trauma patients in 13 academic emergency departments in Korea. After performing an intubation, each patient's data were entered into a Web-based registry. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the factors that affect FPS. RESULTS: The FPS rate was 80.6% in all trauma patients. The curved-blade laryngoscope was the most commonly used instrument, and was applied to 1395 patients (76.2%) during first attempt. Video laryngoscopy was applied to 341 patients (18.6%). In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, factors that affected FPS in difficult airway trauma patients were emergency physicians, senior physicians, and video laryngoscopy (odds ratio 2.42, 95% confidence interval 1.04-5.65; 1.80, 1.16-2.79; and 2.16, 1.39-3.33, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Emergency physicians in Korea are prepared for trauma patient airway management. The backup by experienced senior physicians, and preparation and training for video laryngoscope could assist FPS for trauma patients.