Maira Dias Souza, Hassan Rahhal, Iolanda F. L. C. Tibério
Abstract
Point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) is increasingly recognized in internal medicine, yet its influence on hospitalists’ clinical reasoning remains underexplored.
Introduction
Point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) has been widely adopted across various medical specialties as a rapid, bedside imaging tool that enhances diagnostic accuracy and clinical decision-making [1–5]. Its use is well established in critical care settings, where it has demonstrated benefits, such as reducing diagnostic uncertainty, improving patient management, and improving first-attempt procedural success ratio [6–12].
Materials and methods
This is a descriptive prospective study. Research protocol was approved by our Research Ethics Committee [approval number: 6.292.577; CAAE 73039523.3.0000.0068]. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. Data collection was conducted between October 11, 2024, and January 21, 2025, at the Transitional Care Unit of the Instituto Perdizes (Perdizes Institute/IPer).
Results
Of the 26 hospitalists invited, 19 were enrolled. Participant demographics and characteristics are summarized in Table 1.
Discussion
Our study suggests that POCUS may influence clinical reasoning and decision-making. In 37% (38/104) cases, POCUS led to a modification of the primary diagnostic hypothesis, while in 39% (41/104), it resulted in changes to the clinical management plan.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Instituto Perdizes for their invaluable support in conducting this research.
Citation: Dias Souza M, Rahhal H, Tibério IFLC (2025) Assessing the clinical relevance of point-of-care ultrasound for hospitalists: Influence on clinical reasoning and decision-making. PLoS One 20(12): e0338202. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0338202
Editor: Biswabandhu Jana, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, INDIA
Received: May 13, 2025; Accepted: November 18, 2025; Published: December 18, 2025
Copyright: © 2025 Dias Souza et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Funding: We would also like to acknowledge that this study was financially supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) through the Thematic Project (Grant nº 2018/02537-05). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
