Barriers and Facilitators to Point-of-Care Ultrasound Utilization Among Emergency Medicine Residents and Emergency Nurse Practitioners Following Institutional Training
At Srinagarind Hospital's emergency department, Khon Kaen University, this study included 16 emergency-medicine residents and 60 emergency nurse practitioners who completed institutional POCUS training during 2024–2025, plus 2,097 electronically archived examinations over a standardized one-month observation per provider. Residents had higher mean competency scores. Both groups identified workload and time, limited equipment, and interpretive confidence as major barriers, while nurse practitioners reported greater concern about institutional support and medicolegal risk. Competency and provider type were associated with more recorded examinations, while patient volume was associated with fewer. The study did not assess image quality, diagnostic accuracy, treatment decisions, or patient outcomes.