A clinical database program for evaluation of intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography interpretive skills

The authors describe a quality-assurance-oriented database program designed for an intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography monitoring service. Entry data include patient and operation demographics and two-dimensional echocardiographic, saline-contrast, and color flow/pulsed Doppler assessments of the heart and great vessels. A statistical analysis component allows for comparison of intraoperative interpretations with those of an external reviewer 'gold standard' on a field-by-field basis. This provides an objective means for quantifying expertise in each individual aspect of the patient examination sequence. Such self-appraisal data are essential for delineating the status and tracking the progress of service being provided.<
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