Purpose/ Applicability: The purpose of this SOP is to describe the guidelines that must be followed if a service other than imaging wants to perform aspirates using the imaging service’s ultrasound machine

Scope: This SOP is to be a reference for any service in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital that wants to use the imaging service’s ultrasound machine to perform aspirates when the radiologist is unavailable.

Definition(s):
Imaging Service’s Ultrasound Machine- this term can be used in reference to either the Canon Aplio i700, or the Toshiba Aplio 300

Procedure:

1. Services outside of imaging will only be allowed to use the imaging service’s ultrasound machine when the radiologist is unavailable. If the radiologist is available, the radiologist will be the individual performing aspirates
2. An imaging ultrasound tech must be present during the use of the ultrasound equipment.
3. All patients that are having ultrasound guided aspirates performed need to have an ultrasound or CT that will be read by a radiologist prior to the aspirates. The report does not have to be complete at the time of the aspirates.
4. Any service that wants to use the imaging service’s ultrasound machine to obtain aspirates will need to correlate the time with the ultrasound tech for that day. If the patient is scheduled for an ultrasound, the aspirates can be performed at the conclusion of the normal ultrasound exam.
   1.  If aspirates are taking too long, and the next scheduled patient has arrived and it is time for their appointment, the physician performing aspirates will be asked to stop.
   2. If the patient is not having an ultrasound that day, the service will have to be understanding that the imaging service’s schedule is top priority. The imaging service will do their best to accommodate. 
5. Any aspirate that is obtained while using the imaging service’s ultrasound machine will be charged as an aspirate. 
   1. If the patient is not having an ultrasound, but still requires aspirates after their imaging exam, the patient will be charged for an ultrasonographer charge to cover for the time of the ultrasound tech. This will be in addition to the aspirate charge.
6. Once obtaining the aspirates is complete, the ultrasound tech will evaluate the ultrasound probe to make sure no damage has been done to the probe.
   
   1. In the instance where the probe has been damaged, the service that was using the probe for the aspirates will be responsible for the cost to replace the probe