Point of Care Echocardiography in an Irish Critical Care Unit

Abstract

Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) has become an established component of critical care monitoring1-5 .Traditionally performed by Cardiology Services, either cardiac physiologists or cardiology doctors, a major limitation has been availability of these personnel on a 24 hour /7 day per week basis to the critical care area. As a result performance of TTE examinations has moved beyond the traditional users and now involves critical care doctors. Definition of the competencies required for basic level critical care echocardiography has provided a practical roadmap to Intensivists involved in echocardiography training. We introduced a basic level echocardiography training course into our critical care unit and it was the aim of this study to evaluate the impact of echocardiography training on clinical practice.