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Emergency Medicine Journal 2009;26:82-86; doi:10.1136/emj.2008.058560
© 2009 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and the College of Emergency Medicine.

REVIEW

Echocardiography in the emergency department

J Wright1, R Jarman2, J Connolly1, P Dissmann3

1 Emergency Department, Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2 Emergency Department, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, UK
3 Emergency Department, James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, UK

Correspondence to:
Dr J Wright, Emergency Department, Newcastle General Hospital, Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 6BE, UK; john.wright{at}nuth.nhs.uk

ABSTRACT

Point-of-care echocardiography using portable machines is an exciting development in emergency medicine. Recent improvements in ultrasound quality mean that emergency physicians are finding echocardiography useful in a variety of clinical settings. Evidence suggests that emergency physicians are able to master the skills of basic echocardiography sufficiently to improve patient care in the resuscitation scenario. Patients with clinical conditions such as breathlessness, undifferentiated shock, chest pain and cardiac arrest may benefit. There is a steep learning curve involved in acquiring these skills and the specialty needs to take care in the way that its practitioners are accredited and perform echocardiography.


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Official journal of British Association for Immediate Care: BASICS, Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care, Irish Society for Immediate Care and Swedish Society for Emergency Medicine: SweSEM

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