Portable bladder ultrasound: an evidence-based analysis
Record Status
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.
Citation
Portable bladder ultrasound: an evidence-based analysis. Toronto: Medical Advisory Secretariat (MAS). Volume 6(11). 2006
Authors' objectives
This health technology and policy assessment (HTPA) will focus specifically on portable bladder ultrasound in the management of urinary conditions.
Authors' conclusions
Policy Options
Option 1: Recommend portable bladder ultrasound for use in complex continuing care and rehabilitation facilities for neurogenic bladder populations and in urology settings for urinary incontinence (UI) assessment.
Option 2: Recommend portable bladder ultrasound for acute post-surgical care settings. Data is not available for catheterized populations in hospital care settings and as such expected outcomes cannot be estimated reliably; however hospitals should feel free to explore and evaluate the clinical utility of Portable bladder ultrasound use based on their populations needs.
Option 3: Do not recommend portable bladder ultrasound for the catheterized population in long-term care (LTC). Only 2.8% of all LTC residents are catheterized, and at the institution level, the purchase of this device would not be justified for so few patients (approximately 3 catheterized patients per facility).
Option 4: Recommend portable bladder ultrasound for LTC for the purpose of prompted voiding.
Option 5: Recommend use of portable bladder ultrasound in community and home care settings. It is difficult to comment on this option given the lack of literature on, portable bladder ultrasound use in home care and community care settings, and population catheterization rates and incontinence data; as outcomes dependant on case mix served, Portable bladder ultrasound should be used at own discretion.