Development of a platform for E-training/E-learning for echocardiography practitioners

Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), the most common form of congenital anomaly, affects nearly 1% of newborns and potentially dramatically increases neonatal mortality. A correct management of infants is needed to improve the vital conditions of toddlers with suspected CHD in early life, thus mainly relying on a correct employment of medical imaging and telemedicine. Echocardiography is widely used for this purpose and represents a successful technique, thanks to its relatively low cost, transportability, and unobtrusiveness. To this extent, health practitioners should meet a consensus in terms of images interpretation to correctly manage tricky conditions, including CHD, but the opportunities for updating their skills are scarce. The aid of technological advances in such cases is warmly welcomed, especially concerning internet and Web 2.0 development, representing a useful add-on to current training methods for practitioners. Here, we present a platform for e-training, specifically addressed to echocardiography practitioners, aiming at improving effectiveness in the clinical interpretation of echocardiography images. Moreover, the creation of a community of worldwide expert practitioners on this topic is also foreseen.