Precision Medicine With Point-of-Care Ultrasound: The Future of Personalized Pediatric Emergency Care

The Precision Medicine Initiative spearheaded by the National Institute of Health has pioneered a new model of health care focused on health care delivery that is tailored to an individual. Medical advances have already provided clinicians with the tools to better predict treatment outcomes based on the individual needs of each patient's disease process. Three-dimensional printing allows medical devices and implants to be custom made-to-order. Technological advances in preoperative imaging have augmented the ability for surgeons to plan a specific surgical approach for each patient. In a similar vein, point-of-care ultrasound offers the emergency care provider an opportunity to move beyond protocols and provide precise medical care tailored to the acute needs of each ill or injured emergent patient. In this article, we explore several cutting-edge applications of point-of-care ultrasound that can help providers develop a personalized approach to resuscitation and emergent procedures in pediatrics.