Is Your Stethoscope Going to Join Your Typewriter in the Storage Closet?

By Joe Elia

Point-of-care ultrasound devices, available on eBay for roughly the price of a fancy digital camera, seem poised to be "the stethoscope of the 21st century," according to a review and commentary in Global Heart.

The review's authors praise ultrasound's advantages, especially in the emergency department and the ICU, where treatment decisions have often had to rely on other imaging devices that need to be scheduled and require radiation shielding. They argue for the earlier introduction of the technology into medical school curricula.

Editorialists echo those sentiments, reminding readers that ultrasound has been called a "disruptive technology," in that it's simpler, cheaper, more convenient, and more accessible than those other devices, which rely on highly trained subspecialists to interpret the images.