EVALUATION OF THE USE OF ULTRASONOGRAPHY IN PRIMARY-CARE

Ultrasonography is proposed as a useful diagnostic aid for primary car e physicians. This prospective study describes the demand for ultrasou nd examinations, excluding heart, vessels and pregnancy monitoring, in primary care in Switzerland. Eleven independent physicians requested an average of 2.7 ultrasound examinations per month and 18 residents 1 .9 per month, which was similar to the figure of 2.2 obtained in a pop ulation-based study of 82 primary care physicians serving a region of 80,000 inhabitants. Current demand for ultrasound scanning is low and does not indicate systematic training of primary care physicians until the efficacy of ultrasonography in this setting has been shown.