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: dr s venkatesan 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
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