Transoesophageal Echocardiography Course

Introduction

The University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff is a regional and national centre of excellence for cardiothoracic services. It is a referral centre for complex thoracic and cardiac procedures including complex mitral valve repair, cardiac arrhythmia surgery, TAVI, major aortic including arch operation.

Objectives

This perioperative Transoesophageal Echocardiography (TOE) course is designed to provide the basic knowledge on perioperative TOE to participants with no or very limited previous TOE experience. It is a five day course which caters for cardiac anaesthetists, cardiac surgeons, cardiologists and Intensivists. It is suitable for those pursuing ACTA/BSE or EACTA accreditation.

Course details

The course will provide an introduction to the use of transoesophageal echocardiography in theatre, critical care and outpatients settings by a multidisciplinary faculty. The course will comprise of lectures on all basic aspects of transoesophageal echocardiography,

practical hands-on in-theatre experience and wet lab porcine heart dissection culminating in a multiple choice question (MCQ) examination. Each course is limited to 8 -10 participants) for maximum exposure.

Places will be awarded on first come first serve basis and please register with full payment ASAP. When the course is full, applicants will be placed on our waiting list with preference given for subsequent courses.

A reading list will be sent to participants prior to the course. It is strongly recommended that the candidate should obtain some basic knowledge in order to make the most of the limited time available.

The day will start at 0800 hours with lectures interspersed with theatre sessions, critical care and outpatients TOE clinics. The lectures are intended to provide knowledge about the fundamentals of TOE, its limitations and the TOE findings of common cardiac pathologies. TOE simulators will also be available for enhanced hands-on experience.

The theatre sessions will be flexible including probe handling, optimising and acquiring images, active discussion and case review. Images from the departmental archives and DVDs will be used to augment the learning experience.

The process of learning peri-operative transoesophageal echocardiography is complicated and time consuming and will require considerable input and commitment from the participant.

Our aims are to teach the participants how to perform and interpret a basic TOE examination, to enable better understanding to direct further learning, and also to help them to recognise his/her limitations. On the last day of the course, participants will undergo a MCQ test including videos to assess their basic level of knowledge.

The information provided at this CME activity is for continuing medical education purposes only and is not meant to substitute the independent medical judgment of a physician relative to diagnostic and treatment options of a specific patient’s medical condition.

Accreditation

A total of 15 and 12 CME points CME points from the Royal College of Anaesthetists and British Society of Echocardiography, respectively.

Certificate

Participants completing the course satisfactorily will receive a certificate documenting CME points awarded.