In the last few months, two important documents pertaining to appropriateness and quality in echocardiography have been published.
May 2019 saw the publication of the ACC AATS AHA ASE ASNC HRS SCAI SCCT SCMR STS 2019 Appropriate Use Criteria for Multimodality Imaging in the Assessment of Cardiac Structure and Function in Nonvalvular Heart Disease. This document is an update to prior AUC recommendations, and companion to the 2017 document on AUC for valvular heart disease. It provides specific levels of appropriateness (appropriate, may be appropriate, and rarely appropriate) for multiple imaging modalities, including transthoracic echocardiography, transesophageal echocardiography, stress echocardiography and strain imaging. You can access the publication in the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography here.
The 2019 ACC/AHA/ASE Advanced Training Statement on Echocardiography (Revision of the 2003 ACC/AHA Clinical Competence Statement on Echocardiography) was published in July 2019. This document outlines the competencies required of sub-subspecialists in adult echocardiography and complements the training in echocardiography required of all trainees during the standard 3-year general cardiovascular fellowship. The statement focuses on the core competencies reasonably expected of all individuals trained at this level. Furthermore, the statement identifies selected competencies of Level III echocardiographers that go beyond core expectations that may be achieved by some advanced trainees either during formal fellowship training or through subsequent training experiences. You can access the publication in the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography here.