With the goal to support and inform the creation of rural, province-wide access to PoCUS for everyone practising and living in a rural, remote or Indigenous community across British Columbia; we aim to increase access to care, betterment of provider and patient relationships, and the overall health of individuals.

The IN PoCUS project included multiple stakeholders, including RCCbc who provided funding and support for more than 50 rural physicians to receive PoCUS probes. The project was completed in 2021–22 and the qualitative study on the project has been accepted for publication in the British Medical Journal Open. This study conducted in-depth virtual interviews with 21 general practitioners across rural British Columbia on participants’ motivation to participate in the RCCbc program, the type of training they received, their current use of PoCUS, their experience with the technology, and their experience interacting with specialists in regional centres.

The Rural PoCUS Strategy team created a survey to better understand the current state of use of PoCUS in rural British Columbia with the hope of understanding the attitudes about and barriers to using PoCUS. The answers provided by hundreds of rural physicians will inform the development and improvement of medical education and practice supports for rural clinicians in the province using PoCUS. The survey was also conducted for research purposes and the responses are currently being collated and populated to tell the story of rural PoCUS and inform changes.

The benefits of PoCUS-trained rural providers include:

• Care closer to home
• Faster diagnoses
• Better relationships with providers
• Provider satisfaction
• Cost savings to patients on travel
• Provider education

• December 2021 PoCUS Newsletter
• August 2021 PoCUS Newsletter