• José L Díaz-Gómez, Silvia Perez-Protto, Jennifer Hargrave, Angela Builes, Michelle Capdeville, Emir Festic, and Sajid Shahul.
• Department of Critical Care and Department of Anesthesiology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida. Electronic address: DiazGomez.Jose@Mayo.edu.
• J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. 2015 Jan 1; 29 (3): 576-81.

ObjectiveTo investigate the impact of a sequence of educational interventions in a one-day course on focused transthoracic echocardiography (FOTE) by anesthesia and critical care practitioners.DesignA prospective analysis of the educational data.SettingEducational setting in two academic medical centers and a medical meeting workshop organized by one of these institutions.ParticipantsFifty-six anesthesia and critical care providers, divided into three groups, participated separately in a FOTE training course.InterventionsAll participants received a sequence of educational intervention as follows: A standardized, multiple-choice pretest; a lecture on cardiac and lung ultrasound; and a FOTE "hands-on" training session. The same standardized test was administered and graded as a posttest.Measurements And Main ResultsFifty-six professionals attended the course in three separate groups: The first were cardiothoracic anesthesia fellows (n = 16) (group 1), the second included critical care practitioners (n = 21) (group 2), and the third were general anesthesiologists (n = 19) (group 3). Parasternal views were most difficult to obtain for all groups (58.1, 63.8, and 58%, respectively). The mean written test scores increased from 14.9±2 to 21.0±2.3 in group 1; from 12.3±3.8 to 19.2±3.7 in group 2; 12±3.5 to 21±2.4 in group 3, (p = 0.0003, 0.00005, 0.0001, respectively).ConclusionsA FOTE training course improves image acquisition skills and knowledge to the same level independently of professional background and level of experience in critical care ultrasound.Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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