ABSTRACT
Objective To determine the capability of emergency physicians (EPs) after goaldirected training to make accurate judgement and assessment of left ventricular systolic function (LVSF) as they own manipulated the hand-held echocardiography.Methods Eighty-one patients with acute dyspneic symptom admitted into emergency department of Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai qaotong University School of Medicine from November 2011 to February 2012 were enrolled for a prospective,observational study.Patients with a history of trauma or acute myocardial infarction diagnosed by electrocardiogram were excluded.Four EPs after a intensive course of goal-oriented training in a good command of trans-thoracic echocardiography (TTE) in 81 emergency patients using hand-held echocardiography.EPs attempted to obtain images at the parasternal (long and short axis),apical,and subcostal positions,and visually estimated left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and categorized LVSF as normal function,mild or moderate or severely depressed function.The results of echocardiographic LVEF got by EPs were compared quntitatively with those measured by an professional echocardiographer.The kappa statistical test by using SPSS version 13.0 software was used to allow for comparison in agreement between EPs and the professional echocardiographer's interpretations of TTE findings.Results Using the results of TTE measured by the professional echocardiographer as agold standard,EPs correctly distinguished the normal LVSF from decreased LVSF in 89％ patients.The rate of positive predictive value for the EPs identifying any abnormality in LV function was 83％ and the rate of negative predictive value was 93％.The kappa coefficient for the agreement between EPs and the professional echocardiographer' s interpretations for any abnormality in LV function was 0.77 (95％ CI:0.70-0.84,P ＜ 0.01).EPs correctly placed LV function into one of three categories in 68 of 81 cases (84％),The kappa coefficient for the agreement was 0.71 (95％ CI:0.64-0.78,P ＜0.01).Conclusions Emergency physicians after a intensive course of training in mastering echocardiography can accurately determine the left ventricular systolic function.