203 - Mapping Regional Progress in Neonatal Point-of-Care Ultrasound: A 2025 New England Collaborative Survey

Publication Number: 3195.203

Indrani Bhattacharjee, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States; Sfurti Nath, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University/Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, Providence, RI, United States; Kristyn S. Beam, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Needham, MA, United States

Background: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is increasingly integral to neonatal care, yet regional adoption, institutional readiness, and collaborative progress remain poorly characterized. The New England Regional POCUS Collaborative aimed to benchmark program maturity, infrastructure, and shared growth across participating NICUs.

Objective: To assess institutional demographics, program development, administrative and QA support, training ecosystems, and collaborative impact within the New England network

Design/Methods: A 34-item Qualtrics survey was distributed across collaborative sites. Topics included institutional type, POCUS experience, integration stage, scan frequency, administrative and QA structures, EMR documentation, training practices, and collaborative engagement. Twenty-eight responses were analyzed descriptively

Results: Respondents represented predominantly academic NICUs (96%) across medium-to-large bed-capacity units. Nearly half (48%) reported 1-3 years of POCUS use and 69% described programs as "emerging," reflecting broad engagement but variable maturity (Figure A).
Administrative support was generally positive (62% moderate-to-high), yet only 23% had a formal QA program, 42% were developing one, and 79% rarely or never integrated documentation into clinical notes (Figure B). Peer mentorship (87%) and hands-on scanning sessions (96%) were cited as the most effective learning strategies, while routine procedural use was highest for umbilical lines (67%) and lumbar puncture (57%). The Collaborative was credited with accelerating program development, establishing shared learning, and prioritizing faculty-train-the-trainer and credentialing efforts (Figure C).

Conclusion(s): The survey reveals a rapidly expanding neonatal POCUS network in New England, characterized by strong faculty engagement and collaborative learning. However, infrastructure-especially QA and EMR documentation-lags educational progress. Collaborative frameworks appear key to sustaining growth and regional standardization of neonatal POCUS practice

Figure 1: Program Maturity Matrix
Heatmap summarizing heterogeneity in POCUS maturity across participating NICUs.
While most sites reported early-stage integration and moderate experience, scan frequency and administrative support varied widely.



Figure B. Institutional Readiness
Diverging Likert plot comparing administrative support, QA infrastructure, and EMR documentation. Although leadership endorsement was moderate-to-high in most centers, formal QA processes and image-documentation workflows were less established.


Figure C. Collaborative Growth Timeline
Flow diagram depicting the New England POCUS Collaborative's evolution from formation (2019) to regional research expansion (2025 planned).
Sequential milestones-workshops, QA development, mentorship, credentialing-demonstrate steady, community-driven capacity building and growing alignment of training, quality assurance, and research across institutions.