Reliability of Subjective Assessment of the Heart by Cardiac Point-of-Care Ultrasound

Subjective qualitative assessment of ventricular function, diameter of the right ventricle and the size of inferior caval vein using cardiac Point-of-Care ultrasound is commonly performed by intensivists and emergency medicine physicians during the management of the patients with shock and/or acute respiratory failure. However, very little data is available to define the reliability of this qualitative examination. The presented study aims to assess this reliability. Physicians meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria will be sent by a questionnaire consisting of 19 ultrasound cases. Participants will be asked to perform qualitative evaluation of ultrasound findings of each case. Then, the results will be compared with quantitative measurements made by conventional transthoracic echocardiography and validity testing will be performed.