Dr. Ryan Paulus has been awarded a $75,000 American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) Residency Learning Network Grant to establish a national POCUS Research Collaborative focused on advancing point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in family medicine. The collaborative aims to evaluate how POCUS can improve diagnostic accuracy, enhance clinical decision-making, and support better patient care in outpatient settings, particularly in family medicine clinics where evidence remains limited.
“This research based around POCUS in family medicine, especially in outpatient clinic settings, is still very limited,” says Dr. Paulus. “The goal of this network is to help build that foundation so we can better understand how ultrasound fits into everyday primary care and training.”
Dr. Paulus is partnering with researchers at the University of Missouri, as well as Dr. Philip Sloane and Sally Bobbitt at UNC, to lead the local implementation team. The project will support the development of standardized research protocols, centralized data-sharing infrastructure, and multi-site collaboration across residency programs.
In addition to leading the collaborative, Dr. Paulus will be presenting at the NAPCRG annual meeting in November to share early findings and engage potential collaborators. He is also launching a POCUS Research Special Interest Group, designed to foster international collaboration, mentorship, and innovation in ultrasound scholarship within family medicine.