Adult Transthoracic Echocardiography (TTE)

Aims

What would you benefit from getting the EAE Accreditation in TTE ?

• The goals of accreditation are to protect patients from undergoing transthoracic echocardiographic examinations performed by unqualified persons and to set a European standard for competency and excellence in this field.
• Accreditation in TTE should bring credibility and professional legitimacy to an individual by demonstrating his/her competency getting this certification.
• The accreditation process will identify qualified practioners of transthoracic echocardiography and should enhance their professional image.
• European Accreditation is designed to test the competency of an individual to be able to perform, interpret, and report routine transthoracic echocardiographic studies unsupervised.
• Accreditation in TTE is not a compulsory or regulatory certificate of competence or excellence. Individuals' rights to report and sign clinical studies in individual countries remain to be defined by National laws and regulations.
• Sonographers (technicians) and doctors of all disciplines can apply for accreditation in TTE.

Registration

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Forthcoming examinations: 

• 1 September 2010  from 8:00 to 13:00 during ESC Congress (Stockholm, S).
  Exam will take place at Karolinska University Hospital/Solna. 
  
                             On-line registration is not available anymore.
  If you wish to register, please contact us at accreditationEAE@escardio.org
  
  Registration confirmations to all registered candidates were sent on 19 August by email. If you have not received yours, contact us.
  
  ***  Please note that so as to respect exam room capacity, registrations are taken under the basis of first come first served. On-site registration is available, however we encourage  pre-registration so as to guarantee a place.
• 9 December 2010 from 13:00 to 18:00 during EUROECHO Congress  (Copenhagen, DK)
  Online registration will be available by mid-September 2010
  
  Registered candidates to the exam must hand the 'Supervisor Enrolment and Statement of Supervisor Form' the day of the exam to the registration desk.
  NEW! Candidates looking for a supervisor can refer to the list of successful candidates
  Download the enrolment form   Enrolment form must be stapled
  
  Accreditation Fees (in Euros)

*** Please note that so as to respect exam room capacity, registrations are taken under the basis of first come first served. We encourage pre-registration so as to guarantee a place.

Cancellation policy:
In the event that a participant wishes to cancel their registration to the Accreditation exam, a written confirmation to accreditationEAE@escardio.org is required, up to 2 weeks prior the exam. A refund of fees will be made. After this deadline, the candidate will be charged with a penalty of 50% of the accreditation fee and be refunded of the difference. In case of unforeseen circumstances (such as death in the family, on-call at the hospital, accident of the candidate...), a proof document will be required and the candidate will be refunded with the entire registration fee".

For any information, please contact us here

Requirements

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1. Theoretical part: witten exam. Candidates will have to pass this first section successfully before going to the second part.
2. Practical part: log book section. Candidates must submit a logbook of 250 clinical cases performed by him/her.

Candidates having taken the exam in September 2008 (Munich) and December 2008 (Lyon) will be able to choose between the E-Logbook and the paper logbook with 250 case reports.

To obtain accreditation, candidates must pass both the written and the log book parts of the assessment.

Re-accreditation:
As echocardiography skills can only be maintained by continued education and practical involvement, accreditation will be granted for a period of five years. After this time, to maintain accreditation, candidates will have to start a re-accreditation process demonstrating their continued practice and learning in this field.
Criteria for re-accredition are listed here

Process

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STEP 1: A written exam held twice a year: in September during the ESC Congress, and in December during the EUROECHO Congress.

This exam is a Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ, single best answer out of 5 possible choices) divided into two sections:

• Reporting (50 questions related to TTE cases on screen displayed echoes - around 110 minutes)
• Theory (100 questions - 145 minutes).
  

The exam is in English, a glossary is provided.

More details and examples

The duration of the written examination is 5 hours including a 30 minutes break upon completion of reporting section.However, this schedule can be subject to on-site modification.

To be successful, a candidate must pass both sections of the written exam (reporting and theory) at the same time. The passing scores for each section are discussed and established after each exam within the TTE Sub-Committee, based on statistical performance of individual questions and on the average level of scores at the respective exam.

Usually the cut-off scores for passing are as follow:

• Minimum 32 correct answers out of 50 for the reporting section
• Minimum 65 correct answers out of 100 for the theory section.

This scores are subject to changes based on each exam results.

On the day of the written exam:

Before the exam:

• The candidate is required to come to the Accreditation registration desk at least 30 minutes before the start of the exam in order to sign the registration sheet.
• In addition, the candidate is requested to bring and present an ID document to confirm his/her identity.
• The candidate must hand the 'Supervisor Enrolment and Statement of Supervisor Form'
• The candidate is kindly asked to bring his/her calculator; the use of calculator in mobile phone is forbidden.
• The candidate will be allowed to enter the exam room only 5 minutes before the examination.

A candidate number will be given to the candidate on the day of the written exam. This number as well as the candidates's name and surname will have to be indicated on the mark sheet where answers to MCQ must be reported. 

During the exam:

• A 30 minutes break will be provided between the reporting and the theory sections (i.e 110 minutes after the start of the exam), when coffee break is provided.
• If a candidate leaves the room before the end of the exam, he/she will have to return his/her marking sheet to the assessors and will not be authorised the re-enter the room nor get access to his/her marking sheet.
• If a candidate completes the exam before the end of the session, he/she is authorised to leave the room.
• Once finished, the candidate is required to hand his/her marking sheet and sign the handover document.

Results of the written exam are sent by email within two months after the exam.

STEP 2: A Practical assessment to be completed within 12 months of passing the written examination.

NEW! Upon passing the exam, candidates will be informed on how to submit their E-Logbook and will be granted access to the E-Logbook platform with personal access details.

View the demonstration of the TTE E-Logbook

Candidates from September 2008 (Munich) and December 2008 (Lyon) session who wish to submit a paper logbook: please refere to section 'Documents to submit with the logbook section'.

Candidates have to submit their logbook electronically (E-Logbook) consisting of 6 TTE anonymous studies performed by them as per the requirements defined by EAE Accreditation Office. 
Cases must be gathered within 12 consecutive months. Please note that cases can be collected from 1 year before to 1 year after the written exam.

Failure will oblige the candidate to start the whole process from the beginning.
Candidate may raise an appeal to the EAE Accreditation Committee. The appeal procedure for re-evaluation of a logbook is charged 50 Euros.
To open an appeal procedure, please follow instructions indicated in the results letter.

The E-Lobgook should be submitted in one of the languages available (refer to the list below). All cases will be sent to 3 graders of the EAE to review them.

Documents to submit with the log book:
(templates available below)

• Letter from the supervisor documenting training and the review of studies undertaken by the candidate. Make sure the candidate's name does not appear on the letter but the candidate's number.

• Letter from the supervisor testifying that the candidate has performed and reported 250 clinical transthoracic cases. Make sure the candidate's name does not appear on the letter but the candidate's number.

• 250 cases summary sheet assessed by candidate's supervisor

Candidates from September 2008 (Munich) and December 2008 (Lyon) exam session who wish to send a paper logbook must submit the above letters from the supervisor, 250 clinical cases reports with the cases split sheet on top of them. 

Results of the practical assessment are sent by e-mail within 2 months after submitting the log book.

How to prepare for the exam?

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To increase your chance of success to the written exam, you may prepare yourself:

1.  Suggested reading list 
2.  Going on the EAE Educational area.
   
   This section hold information on education-related areas such as:

• Key Reference Library: articles that have been judged as fundamental documents to guide medical practice in the field of echocardiography.
• Educational Resources (Slides)
• Educational and preparatory courses: courses organised by or in collaboration with the EAE
• Echo Hall of Fame: interview with distinguished echocardiographers.
• EAE Core Syllabus
  

Frequently Asked Questions  (FAQs)

Questionnaires examples:

Theory Multiple Choice Questions; Echo Reporting Section MCQs and Glossary are available 64KB.

For any information, please contact us here