Primary Prevention through Risk prediction Improvement of Major Cardiovascular Events Using POCUS
Clinic office carotid POCUS to detect subclinical atherosclerosis
• Carotid plaque can be easily detected at the bedside using vascular point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS).
• Non-conventional users can learn POCUS.
• We have previously taught POCUS to ED physicians (CJEM, 2022).
We can now teach primary health care professionals to conduct POCUS to find carotid plaque.
The proposed project introduces a novel protocol enabling primary care providers to perform carotid ultrasound using handheld devices for point-of-care-ultrasound (POCUS). This study aims to assess the feasibility of integrating this protocol into primary care clinic workflow to detect subclinical atherosclerosis in statin naïve asymptomatic patients. We will evaluate whether POCUS influences physician care strategies particularly in decision-making regarding medications and testing. Additionally, we will investigate changes in patient behaviour following POCUS, focusing on adherence to physician recommendations regarding lifestyle modifications, smoking cessation, and medication compliance after visualizing their plaque.