Ultrasound performed at the point of care (POCUS) is having its moment. The COVID-19 pandemic has seemingly caused the acceleration of POCUS acceptance by hospital leaders, and POCUS examinations are increasingly performed by specialists outside of emergency medicine. What is driving this rapid culture change?

POCUS simply makes sense. This technology has been deemed essential to the safe management of patients amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The clinical examination and imaging can be accomplished at the same time and by the same physician.

The conditions of the pandemic have favored imaging modalities that can be rapidly deployed to the bedside, are quick to complete, involve easily disinfected instruments, and do not require multiple personnel.

To date, there are no large outcome data on the use of POCUS for COVID-19, but published reports support that POCUS is time efficient and can accurately demonstrate clinical diagnoses, such as viral pneumonia.

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