Adult Transthoracic Echocardiography (TTE)

Aims

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

• The goals of certification 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.
• Certification in TTE should bring credibility and professional legitimacy to an individual by demonstrating his/her competency getting this certification.
• The certification process will identify qualified practioners of transthoracic echocardiography and should enhance their professional image.
• European Certification is designed to test the competency of an individual to be able to perform, interpret, and report routine transthoracic echocardiographic studies unsupervised.
• Certification 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 certification in TTE.

Registration

Forthcoming examinations: 

• 30 August (14:00-19:00) Fully booked & 31 August (08:00-13:00) 2011 during ESC Congress (Paris, FR) 
  NEW! For the first year, the exams will be computer-based
  Deadline to pre-register: 22 August 2011
  
• December 2011 during EUROECHO Congress (Budapest, HU)
  Online registration will be available 5 September 2011.
  Deadline to pre-register: 1 December 2011***.
  

     ***Important information*** 
     When registering to the examination, you will need to:

1. Select the applicable fee
2. Choose a session (30 August 14:00-19:00 or 31 August 08:00-13:00) Once you have selected the session of your choice, you will not be able to change it anymore.

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

Registered candidates to the examination must hand the 'Supervisor Enrolment and Statement of Supervisor Form' the day of the examination to the registration desk.

NEW! Candidates looking for a supervisor can refer to the list of certified practitioners
Download the enrolment form   Enrolment form must be stapled

Certification Fees (in Euros)

Cancellation policy:
In the event that a participant wishes to cancel their registration to the Certification exam, a written request to certification-specialties@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 certification 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

The certification includes two parts:

1. Theoretical part: written examination (Computer Based). Candidates who are successful in the written examination will be entitled to proceed with the practical skills assessment.
   
2. Practical part: log book section. Candidates must submit a logbook of 250 clinical cases they have performed.

Candidates having taken the examination in September 2008 (Munich) and December 2008 (Lyon) will be able to choose between the eLogbook and the paper logbook to submit the  250 case reports.

To obtain certification, candidates must succeed both the knowledge assessment (written examination) and the skills assessment (i.e. log book).

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

Process

The TTE Certification process is run in two parts:

STEP 1: A written examination (Computer Based) twice a year: in September during the ESC Congress, and in December during the EUROECHO Congress.

The examination is a knowledge-based assessment, using 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 examination is in English, a glossary is provided.

More details and examples

The duration of the written examination is of 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 succeed at both sections of the written examination (reporting and theory) at the same time. The passing scores for each section are  decided during the EAE Certification Committee Standard Setting (discussions occur after each examination within the TTE Sub-Committee, based on statistical performance of individual questions and on the average level of scores at the respective examination).

On average, the cut-off scores for passing are as follows:

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

On the day of the written examination:

Before the examination:

• Candidates are required to come to the Certification registration desk at least 30 minutes before the start of the exam in order to sign the registration sheet.
• Candidates will be asked a proof of identification. 
• Candidates must hand over their 'Supervisor Enrolment and Statement of Supervisor Form'
• Candidates are kindly asked to bring their calculator; the use of calculator in mobile phone is forbidden.
• Candidate will be allowed to enter the examination room only 5 minutes before the start of 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 examination:

• 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 candidates leave the room before the end of the exam, they will have to return their mark sheet to the assessors and will not be authorised the re-enter the room nor get access to their mark sheet.
• Once the examination is completed, candidate are allowed to leave the examination room.
• Once finished, candidates are required to hand over their mark sheet and to sign the handover document.

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

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

NEW! Upon passing the examination, candidates will be informed on how to submit their eLogbook and will be granted access to the eLogbook platform with personal access details.

View the demonstration of the TTE eLogbook

Candidates have to submit their logbook electronically (eLogbook) consisting of 6 TTE anonymous studies performed by them as per the requirements defined by EAE Certification 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 to comply will oblige the candidate to start the whole process from the beginning.
Candidates may raise an appeal to the EAE Certification 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.

* Submitting the logbook in English will fasten the review process.

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 that ONLY the candidate's number appears in the letter.  Any letter received with the candidate's name will be rejected. 

• Letter from the supervisor testifying that the candidate has performed and reported 250 clinical transthoracic cases. Make sure that ONLY the candidate's number appears in the letter.  Any letter received with the candidate's name will be rejected. 

• 250 cases summary sheet assessed by candidate's supervisor

Candidates from September 2010 (Stockholm) and December 2010 (Copenhagen)  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 examination?

To increase your chance of success to the written examination, 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)
• EAE Echo webinars (live online seminars)
• Educational and preparatory courses: courses organised by or in collaboration with the EAE
• Echo Hall of Fame: interview with distinguished echocardiographers.
• EAE Core Syllabus
• EAE textbook of Echocardiography, ESC textbook of Imaging
  

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