Its value lies in answering focused questions quickly enough to change management — across vascular access, gastric assessment, lung, and focused cardiac evaluation.
Ultrasound-guided vascular access is one of the most established perioperative applications. It is particularly useful when anatomy is difficult, veins are deep or poorly palpable, or repeated attempts would delay care.
Gastric ultrasound has emerged as a practical method of estimating residual gastric content and aspiration risk in selected patients. Lung ultrasound provides rapid bedside information about pleural fluid, interstitial syndromes, consolidation, and pneumothorax.
Focused cardiac ultrasound is useful when the anaesthetist needs a rapid bedside impression rather than a full formal echocardiogram — assessing gross ventricular function, pericardial effusion, or the broad haemodynamic picture in unstable patients.
POCUS in anaesthesia is best understood as a structured bedside toolkit. Used within training and scope, it can improve assessment, procedural guidance, and perioperative decision-making across vascular, gastric, lung, and focused cardiac applications.
Dr Yahya Docrat is an anaesthetist based in Johannesburg, South Africa, with clinical experience in perioperative medicine and point-of-care ultrasound applications in anaesthesia, emergency medicine and critical care.