OVERVIEW

The Houston Echo Review is a two-day hybrid course of lectures, interactive discussions, and case presentations designed to prepare cardiovascular specialists for the National Board of Echocardiography (NBE) examinations. The course will be a fast-paced review of topics similar to those covered in the ASCeXAM scheduled for July 2024. The scope of the review is designed to be extensive enough for attendees to be able to identify their areas of strengths and potential weaknesses when designing their own subsequent self-study program in preparation for the NBE exam. Attendees may discover that they would additionally benefit from a more extensive multi-day review course. For these reasons, the course is scheduled approximately 90 days prior to the NBE examination. The course will provide an overview of echo lab quality improvement (QI). Both the clinical content and QI material is beneficial for any practicing echocardiographer regardless of whether not they plan to take the NBE exam. The participant will find this course useful for both the NBE initial and recertification examination preparation. Sonographers are encouraged to attend to improve their clinical knowledge base. However, this course should not be used as a “stand alone” review for sonographers preparing for their professional credentialing examinations.

The 14th Annual Houston Echo Review: Boot Camp for 2024 Echo Board is offered in cooperation with the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) and the Greater Houston Society of Echo-Vascular (GHSEV).

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the conclusion of each lecture in the series, the participant should be able to:

• Recognize the morphological features of the disease process under discussion based on two-dimensional and M-mode echocardiography as well as the basic clinical applications of newer modalities including three-dimensional imaging and speckle tracking modalities.
• Cite the most important two-dimensional echo quantitative methods clinically applicable to the cardiovascular disease under discussion.
• Apply and/or be able to refer to the most appropriate methods for Doppler assessment and quantitative methods of the cardiovascular disease process under discussion.
• Improve the quality and efficiency of echocardiography laboratories, which will lead to improved patient care after review of recommended Quality Improvement metrics for laboratories.
• Recognize a spectrum of cardiovascular pathological conditions, including those mentioned above by being presented with up to 100 rapid-paced clinical recognition cases.
• Explain cardiac anatomy and pathology by both transesophageal and transthoracic echo imaging as these, along with stress echocardiography will be incorporated into the didactic and case-based learning components of the exam.
• Improve their ability to incorporate physics of ultrasound material into their clinical use of echocardiography.
• Identify areas of weakness that may be better addressed by targeted self-study including a slower-paced and more in-depth formal echocardiography review course.

The purpose of the course is to provide a combination of case-based learning and fast-paced didactic lectures which is comprehensive in scope to improve the quality and efficiency of echocardiography laboratories, which will lead to improved patient care.

The course will also improve the personal evaluation and study plan for attendees that wish to take the National Board of Echocardiography Examination, which is 90 days following the course. The course is a broad survey and will assist attendees in identifying areas of strength and weakness for both practice and of taking the NBE examination.

ACCREDITATION

Texas Heart Institute is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Texas Heart Institute designates this live activity for a maximum of 17.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 17.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity providers responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit. Successful completion is a passing grade of 70% on the assessment in the CME evaluation.

For more information please visit the official event page.