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Background: The prototype for the cardiovascular imager has evolved to necessitate some degree of competency in multimodality imaging (MMI)-defined as expertise in at least 2 of the 4 modalities (echocardiography [ECHO], nuclear cardiology [NUC], cardiovascular computed tomography [CCT], and magnetic resonance [CMR]). Uncertainty exists about the effects of this change., Methods: Information detailing the current totals of board-certified practitioners in MMI was collected and organized into groups of 1, 2, and 3 modalities. A randomized stratified sample of names was obtained to identify a representative 10% of each group. Those names were cross-referenced online with information from state medical boards, faculty rosters of academic medical centers, and physician tracking Websites., Results: There are a total of 2209 board-certified MMI practitioners (2 modalities = 1885, 3 modalities = 324) and 6450 single-modality imagers in the United States. Of those sampled, 98.9% were cardiologists, 31.3% were at academic medical centers and mean time from medical school graduation was 17.75 years. MMI practitioners were more likely to have graduated from medical school more recently (P < 0.0001) and to be trained cardiologists (P = 0.003) than those who practice in a single modality. There was a nonsignificant trend toward MMI being practiced more commonly in an academic setting (P = 0.38)., Conclusion: Board-certified specialists in MMI tend to be younger cardiologists than those engaged in single-modality cardiac imaging. There are few advanced (3 modality) MMI practitioners in the United States., (© 2013, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background Best practices in the teaching of performance and interpretation of echocardiography to cardiology fellows are unknown, and thus, it has traditionally been performed through an apprenticeship model. This review summarizes the existing literature describing evidence-based teaching of echocardiography. Methods A comprehensive search of multiple scientific and educational databases included prospective studies describing an educational intervention for teaching echocardiography to physicians. A total of 288 articles were retrieved, and 10 articles were included in our review. The Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI), a validated rubric designed to measure the methodological quality of educational research, was used to assign a comprehensive score to each paper. Results The articles were categorized by educational themes as follows: focused curriculum-based training, simulation, and assessment of competency. Individual study MERSQI scores varied from 8 to 13 (mean 10.55) on a scale of 18 points. The distribution of each group's median score (focused curriculum-based training 11.64; simulation 12.92; assessment of competency 9.39) was analyzed using boxplots with a 95% confidence interval. The median MERSQI score for the assessment of competency group was significantly lower than the others. Conclusions A review of the data exploring best practices in teaching echocardiography shows only limited effects describing the curricular and assessment components of an overall educational system, rather than one-on-one clinical teaching. Future papers should explore application of point-of-care teaching and the impact of interventions on patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]