Introduction

Imagine this case scenario. You are a junior medical officer who has just finished housemanship at a tertiary hospital. You are then assigned to a district hospital in Sabah which is at least 2 hour driving from the nearest tertiary hospital with specialist.

It’s your first month at work at the district hospital and you are oncall at the Emergency Department at 2am in the morning.

The triage bell rings and the Medical Assistant pushed in a young man who is clutching his chest, appear breathless and started to become cyanosed.

Short history from his friend ; he was riding a motorcycle alone without wearing helmet, tried to avoid a cow which was sitting at the middle of the road, skidded and fell forwards.

His vital signs n arrival was Blood Pressure 80/45mmHg, Pulse Rate 140beats per minute, Saturation 80% on room air.

You noticed that he has bruises on right side of his chest and his right flank.

Now you might need to think that this patient needs CT Scan As soon as possible in order to come to a diagnosis. But you know the limitations of working in a district hospital, and the patient needs stabilisation before it is safe enough to refer and transfer him to the district hospital

What if we tell you that with one tool, you can at least come to a preliminary diagnosis and you can identify and treat his life threatening injuries.

That tool is the bedside ultrasound, a tool invented not so long ago, but has been a wonderful helping hand to Emergency Department doctors across the world. Delicate but helpful, it is so useful that some places has a unique pet name for the ultrasound machine.

This book is for you, medical undergraduates, junior House Officers and Medical Officers, in the hope that it will become an assistance in your daily job as a junior doctor, and those inspire to become an Emergency Physician.

Plus, this book is free, in the hope that life saving knowledge and skills will no longer be reserved for those with money, as patients now not their doctor,  but a doctor must know their patient.

We hope you will enjoy this start of ultrasound journey with us…