Point of Care Echocardiography in an Irish Critical Care Unit

Aims We sought to evaluate the clinical impact of a 6 month transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) teaching programme in a critical care unit. Methods An observational single centre study. Four critical care doctors, 2 fellows and 2 consultants were trained to use TTE. The study was conducted over 2 six month study periods; period 1 before echocardiography training and period 2 following echocardiography training. Results An increased number of TTE examinations were performed following echocardiography training, 47 TTE studies during period 1 and 144 TTE studies during period 2. The commonest indications for TTE examination were assessment of ventricular function, wall motion abnormalities and cardiac tamponade. The percentage of TTE studies leading to a change in clinical management were similar during both periods, 30% period 1 and 34% period 2. During period 2 the majority of TTE’s leading to management change were performed by critical care doctors who frequently manipulated vasoactive medications and administered fluid therapy. Conclusions A 6 month echocardiography training programme led to an increase number of TTE studies independently performed by critical care doctors with resultant clinical impact in one third of cases.