A review of echocardiography in anaesthetic and peri-operative practice. Part 2: training and accreditation.

Echocardiography has been widely adopted as a diagnostic and monitoring tool in cardiac anaesthesia and critical care. There is considerable interest in how echocardiography could be used to benefit patients in other areas of anaesthesia and peri-operative practice. The first part of review examines the impact and utility of echocardiography, while this second part is concerned with the matter of training and accreditation. There are a number of existing clinical protocols for the use of transthoracic echocardiography with a focused approach. Some of these, such as Focused Intensive Care Echocardiography in the UK, have been developed into structured accreditation processes with embedded supervision. Learning opportunities are now emerging for anaesthetists who wish to acquire echocardiography skills--these encompass clinical, simulation and online resources. Whilst the roll-out of echocardiography for more widespread use in peri-operative management is a long-term project, it is now an appropriate time to consider how this may be achieved.