SEARCH 8Es: A novel point of care ultrasound protocol for patients with chest pain, dyspnea or symptomatic hypotension in the emergency department

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to evaluate a problem-oriented focused torso bedside ultrasound protocol termed “Sonographic Evaluation of Aetiology for Respiratory difficulty, Chest pain, and/or Hypotension” (SEARCH 8Es) for its ability to narrow differential diagnoses and increase physicians’ diagnostic confidence, and its diagnostic accuracy, for patients presenting with dyspnea, chest pain, or symptomatic hypotension. METHODS: This single-center prospective observational study was conducted over 12 months in an emergency department and included 308 patients (184 men and 124 women; mean age, 67.7 ± 19.1 years) with emergent cardiopulmonary symptoms. The paired t-test was used to compare the number of differential diagnoses and physician’s level of confidence before and after SEARCH 8Es. The overall accuracy of the SEARCH 8Es protocol in differentiating 13 diagnostic entities was evaluated based on concordance (kappa coefficient) with the diagnosis made by the inpatient specialists. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were calculated. RESULTS: SEARCH 8Es narrows the number of differential diagnoses (2.5 ± 1.5 vs. 1.4 ± 0.7; p < 0.001) and improves physicians’ diagnostic confidence (2.8 ± 0.8 vs. 4.3 ± 0.9; p < 0.001) significantly. The overall kappa coefficient value was 0.870 (p < 0.001), with the overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value at 90.9%, 99.0%, 89.7%, and 99.0%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The SEARCH 8Es protocol helps emergency physicians to narrow the differential diagnoses, increase diagnostic confidence and provide accurate assessment of patients with dyspnea, chest pain, or symptomatic hypotension.