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Physiotherapists become first at the Paget to complete lung ultrasound accreditation

16 February 2024

 

Two of our respiratory team physiotherapists have become the first at the James Paget to complete lung ultrasound accreditation – giving them important new skills to help diagnose patients.

Left to right, Dr Josip Stosic, who wears blue scrubs, Melissa McGeary and Enya Tooke, who both wear white physiotherapist tunics with the James Paget logo on and black trousers, stand at the entrance to our intensive care unit with an ultrasound machine. The three stand with their hands behind their back and smiling at the camera, with the machine also facing the camera and ultrasound imaages visible on a top and bottom screen of the device. On the wall behind them is a new mural which has blue graphics on a white background. The mural explains more about the equipment and things you can expect to see in the ICU.

Melissa McGeary and Enya Tooke both initially went to Blackpool in January 2023 to join the FUSIC (Focused Ultrasound Intensive Care) Introduction to Lung Ultrasound course, and then had 12 months to complete 30 scans, a training pack and a final assessment to achieve the accreditation. The training is provided specifically for physiotherapists and provided by Simon Hayward, a physiotherapist and mentor from Blackpool Teaching Hospital.

Both Enya and Melissa successfully completed the requirements recently and are now providing ultrasound lung scanning to support respiratory patients during their day-to-day work and as part of an on-call rota.

Enya said; “The accreditation allows us to scan a patient in a non-invasive way, not exposing them to CT or X-ray, to see what the problem is. The patient just experiences a small amount of pressure while the ultrasound is carried out and we can identify the next steps, to treat according to what we have just seen or to refer on for further scans or tests. The ultrasound provides clear images and, as we’ve learnt more, we have become familiar with what we’re looking at and what we’re looking for.

“This process can help reduce inappropriate scans and is good for intensive care and good for our patients.”

Enya and Melissa both had to complete 30 scans – the first 10 supervised and the next 20 unsupervised but with oversight from their doctor mentors Josip Stosic and James Garvey – before their assessment to achieve the accreditation.

Melissa said; “We have already seen the benefit of scanning on our treatment selection, and can see the success each day following our interventions.”

The hope is that other James Paget Respiratory Physiotherapists will follow in Melissa and Enya’s footsteps – and will be able to benefit from their expertise and be mentored by them. One of their colleagues is just starting the training process and other physiotherapists who are permanently based with the respiratory team may also apply for the training.

Melissa and Enya are pictured here with Dr Josip Stosic.