• Jordan Chenkin, Edgar Hockmann, and Tomislav Jelic.
• Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON.
• Can J Emerg Med. 2019 Jul 1; 21 (4): 523-526.

ObjectivesTransesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a relatively new resuscitation tool in the emergency department. Recent studies have demonstrated that it can impact diagnosis and management of critically ill patients. The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness of a simulation-based curriculum for teaching emergency medicine residents a five-view TEE protocol.MethodsEmergency medicine residents with previous ultrasound experience were invited to attend a 1-hour TEE training session. The training consisted of a didactic lecture followed by guided practice on a simulator. Performance was measured prior to training, after the training session, and by a transfer test 1 to 2 weeks after training. The primary outcome was the percentage of successful image generation using a scoring tool by two blinded reviewers.ResultsTwenty-two residents completed the study. The percentage of successful views increased from 44.5% (SD 27.9) at baseline to 98.6% (SD 3.5) after training (p < 0.001), and was 86.8% (SD 12.1) on transfer testing (p < 0.001).ConclusionA brief simulation-based teaching session was effective for teaching emergency medicine residents a five-view resuscitative TEE protocol. Future studies are needed to determine optimal methods for long-term skill retention.

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