Thank you for your interest in our UC San Diego Perioperative Echocardiography Visiting Preceptorship.

Due to COVID-19 and current UCSD restrictions on conferences, all preceptorships are currently postponed.  Courses will resume when current restrictions are lifted.


This course is designed for physicians seeking echocardiography proficiency. It will cover the applications of transesophageal echocardiography in the monitoring and diagnosis of cardiac disease in the perioperative patient. Lectures will emphasize image acquisition, probe manipulation, recognition of normal cardiac anatomy, evaluation of cardiac pathology, and other echocardiography essentials.

Courses offered quarterly, limited space available.

Objectives

At the conclusion of this activity, the participants should be able to:

Needs Assessment

Echocardiography has become an essential tool within both cardiac and non-cardiac anesthesiology, requiring specific education training for successful utilization. Recently updated guidelines have indicated that TEE should be utilized in all open heart and thoracic aortic surgery as well as during any episodes of unexplained hemodynamic instability in non-cardiac surgery. The guidelines suggest that TEE may be utilized in coronary artery bypass grafting procedures, catheter based cardiac procedures, in critically ill patients, and in at-risk patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery. Therefore it is suggested that both cardiac and non-cardiac anesthesiologists be familiar and proficient with perioperative echocardiography for the monitoring and potential diagnosis of cardiac disease states. 

This educational program attempts to provide anesthesiologists the opportunity to improve their skills and knowledge of perioperative echocardiography  inclusive of image acquisition, probe manipulation, hemodynamic calculation, valvular and ventricular assessment and diagnosis.