I took the basic exam today. I definitely overstudied because I had no idea what was going to be on the exam. I was ready to drop a bunch of crazy calculations and diastology and congenital stuff, and it just wasn't on the exam. One of the resources I used was e-echocardiography.com. This website has an intro TEE section that seemed way way too superficial for exam prep, but in actuality covered pretty much everything on the test. I would highly recommend it for any future test-takers.
As far as why I took it, it's solely a feather in my cap at this point. I am in the generation that can't get advanced PTE certified without fellowship, so I decided to get the basic certification. My group of 20 anesthesiologists does about 250 hearts/year. I try to do a TEE on all of these patients (if I am there and have time), but realistically I'm only personally doing 20-25 hearts a year, half of which are OPCABs. No one (my partners, the surgeons, the cardiologists) expects me to make surgical decisions in the OR based on my TEE, but I just enjoy doing it and feel more in the loop when I can see what's going on. Also, I do tend to get called into the OR when some of my less experienced/interested partners are doing hearts, either by them or the surgeon. I just think it can't be a bad thing to have another little nugget on the resume when the hospital/AMC buys out your group, your group decides to slim down, or you're just looking for another job for any reason.
