It looks like adult cardiologist should avoid doing pediatric echocardiograms !

A cardiologist  is  a physician who has  trained himself  in a special  way  to deal with any problem of heart.Ironically , it exists only on paper.The field has developed so vast  no one can master everything .There is no such  “Pan or global cardiology expert” .In fact it would be shortly become unethical to try to become one ! Pediatric cardiology  has developed into such a big field , doing a echo in newborn or  infant has become a comprehensive job and  requires  special talent .This unique  and excellent study from Narayana Institute , Bangalore published in the  prestigious Annals of pediatric cardiology   throws up interesting realities about the quality of echo report done by adult cardiologists in children .The error rate  appears  huge and stands at  prohibitive 38%. While many errors were minor , major  were also not insignificant (23%) With bulk of the pediatric echo  involves  in the critical decision making  process of device closures and interventions the  data required  becomes vital .The commonest cause for  error is probably not due lack of  knowledge and but to due to lack of commitment and  continuous  exposure in doing echocardiograms in  those age group. While this paper  decently skirts the issue of quality of pediatric echo done in medium sized hospitals without pediatric cardiology service ,I can say the error rates or inadequate reportage could be significant  in such hospitals  with apparently good ranki...
Source: Dr.S.Venkatesan MD - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: bio ethics Cardiology -Therapeutic dilemma cardiology-ethics adult vs pediatric echo report echocardiography expertise required errors in echo report errors in echocardiography ethical issues in cardiology inadequate echocardiogram incom Source Type: blogs