Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences

On Wednesday January 14 Amne Mousa will defend her thesis, highlighting the
growing importance of critical care ultrasound in managing critically ill patients. She focuses on both implementation challenges and innovative clinical applications, with a focus for lung ultrasound.

Clinical Value Recognized

Since the 1990s, critical care ultrasound has become one of the cornerstones in the evaluation and management of critically ill patients. She adds, “Its portability and safety make it particularly valuable across diverse healthcare settings, including resource-limited environments,” says Mousa.

Barriers Identified for Implementation

Despite its utility, Mousa notes that adoption is limited by “the variability of skill complexity, lack of standardized training, and unclear definitions of competency.” She emphasizes, “Our research shows that critical care ultrasound has an important role for diagnosis and monitoring of critically ill patients, but serious efforts need to be taken to improve implementation. We emphasize that training and certification are especially of great importance. We showed that short, focused educational interventions can effectively build the necessary skills, even among clinicians without prior experience.”

Holistic Implementation Needed

Mousa stresses, “Successful implementation requires a holistic approach that integrates individual education with institutional support, clear competency frameworks, and innovative strategies for teaching and quality assurance.”

Lung Ultrasound Advances

Lung ultrasound can accurately diagnose cause of respiratory failure and supports tailored ventilator management. They also found that lung ultrasound is able to predict responses to prone positioning in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Mousa explains, “Lung ultrasound can evaluate the amount of loss of aeration across the thoracic cage thereby helping clinicians identify those most likely to benefit from this high-risk intervention.”

Future Research Directions

To translate these diagnostic insights into improved patient care, Mousa and colleagues have developed a randomized controlled trial protocol to assess the impact of lung ultrasound–guided treatment on patient-centred outcomes, including ventilator-free days and survival. “This research is the first effort to evaluate the potential of lung ultrasound to inform personalized critical care strategies and improve patient care in critically ill patients,” Mousa concludes, advocating for bridging the gap between between diagnostic validation and patient outcomes to fully realize its clinical potential.