The objective of this study was to determine the accuracy of emergency physicians in detecting free fluid in the abdomen when compared to radiologists during w primary survey of trauma victims by focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) scan in the emergency department.

This prospective study was performed during a primary survey of the resuscitation of non-consecutive patients in the resuscitation bay. The study subjects included emergency physicians (EP) [one emergency medicine (EM) consultant, two EM residents, one orthopedic resident, and one surgical resident] who underwent training at a three-day workshop on emergency sonography and performed 10 supervised positive and negative scans for free fluid. The FAST scans were performed by the EPs and then by the radiology resident (RR). Both were blinded to each other's sonography findings. Computed tomography (CT) scan and laparatomy findings were used as gold standard. Results were compared between both groups. Intra-observer variability among EPs and level of agreement between EPs and RRs were assessed.

One hundred fifty scans performed by EPs and RRs were analyzed. The mean age of the patients was 28 [1–70] years. Out of 24 true positive patients, 18 underwent CT scan, and exploratory laparatomy was done in six patients. Intra-observer performance variation ranged from 87–97%. The sensitivity of FAST performed by EP and RR was 100%. The specificity of FAST by EPs was 95.4% vs. 98.4% by RRs. The level of agreement was 100%.

This study proves that FAST scan performed by EPs who are trained in short course of ultrasonography can be reliable and accurate when compared to a qualified radiologist.