Development and analysis of a new certifying examination in perioperative transesophageal echocardiography.
A key element in developing a process to determine knowledge and ability in applying perioperative echocardiography has included an examination. We report on the development of a certifying examination in perioperative echocardiography. In addition, we tested the hypothesis that examination performance is related to clinical experience in echocardiography. Since 1995, more than 1200 participants have taken the examination, and more than 70% have passed. Overall examination performance was related positively to longer than 3 mo of training (or equivalent) in echocardiography and performance and interpretation of at least six examinations a week. We concluded that the certifying examination in perioperative echocardiography is a valid tool to help determine individual knowledge in perioperative echocardiography application.


CONCLUSIONS
This report describes the process involved in developing the certifying transesophageal echocardiography examination and identifies correlates with examination performance.
Aronson
Solomon
S
Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, University of Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. aronson@airway.uchicago.edu
Butler
Aggie
A
Subhiyah
Raja
R
Buckingham
Richard E
RE
Cahalan
Michael K
MK
Konstandt
Steven
S
Mark
Jonathan
J
Ramsay
James
J
Savage
Robert
R
Savino
Joseph
J
Shanewise
Jack S
JS
Smith
John
J
Thys
Daniel
D
D000776:Anesthesiology / Q000193:education*; D002568:Certification; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge