Heartbeat: Hocus-POCUS provides a magical remedy to saving patients’ lives
July 13, 2021
Acute Medical consultant Dr Sarb Clare has been recognised for her work in introducing ultrasound scans at the front door to detect COVID-19 and other serious conditions – saving hundreds of lives.
Dr Clare led on delivering the POCUS (Point of Care Ultrasound) which means patients are given the test, reviewed by a doctor and either discharged within five days or given further treatment, which could involve being transferred to the critical care unit.
The scan is able to determine the severity of the COVID-19 infection as well as other lung conditions, and also heart failure and kidney failure. It takes place at the patient’s bedside, avoiding a transfer to the radiology department, and the doctor and patient are able to see the results in real-time.
There are two dedicated scanners within the acute medicine unit, which were funded through WRVS and are used to carry out POCUS.
The doctor’s work has been given the Meridian Innovation and Improvement Champion Award at the WMAHSN (West Midlands Academic Health and Science Network) Meridian Celebration of Innovation Awards 2020.
Dr Clare MBE, who is also deputy medical director said: “I am honoured to have won this award – along with the other winners who were also recognised for their outstanding innovation. My work on POCUS is my true passion and mission. It saves lives, empowers clinicians with knowledge, skills and ability to make decisions, and most importantly it improves the patient journey.”
Dr Clare’s work stems back to 2014 when she used POCUS in Cape Town, South Africa, to carry out humanitarian work for young children who were unable to access traditional health care due to poverty.
She added: “Having portable scanners results in simple preventable illness being diagnosed and managed in a timely fashion.
“We are currently working on project ‘EPICENTRE’ which involves taking POCUS out into the community – which will a new way of preventing admissions to hospitals.
“Alongside this I have started training some local GPs to offer this service in the community. This is a really exciting time to be involved in acute medicine.”
Dr Clare has created free accessible educational tools for fellow clinicians on how to scan and what to expect, with City Hospital leading on this work nationally. She has also developed the website www.ultrasoundatthefrontdoor.com which provides free learning, education and training. Whilst her book “Ultrasound for the Generalist – A Guide To point of care imaging”- co-authored with Dr Chris Duncan, is due to come out later this year.
Tammy Holmes, Head of Innovation Exchange at WMAHSN, said: “We’d like to congratulate all of the winners at this year’s Meridian Celebration of Innovation Awards. We received many fantastic entries and are truly humbled by the work that has been taking place within the region, in what has been an incredibly challenging year.”
Meridian Innovation Exchange is a platform open to any individuals or organisations to find healthcare innovations, share ideas, build groups, and grow networks to collaborate and improve healthcare provision across the West Midlands. The platform helps users showcase their ideas, spread good practice, and bring about change with collaborators from across sectors.