Programs that allow you to sit for TEE exam

[Ether Screen]

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[VentdependenT]

You can do a month long TEE rotation at Virginia Mason and then sit for some sort of certification exam. Not sure if that is the exam you're looking for.

 

[Tenesma]

for basic TEE: 150 total of which 50 were personally performed... (meaning you have to do 50 cardiac cases w/ TEE for those to count)

for advanced TEE (and what you are looking for - fellowship level): 300 total cases of which 150 were personally performed....

technically with some focus/concentration most residency programs can provide the exposure for basic TEE certification - which unfortunately doesn't mean very much in the real world... cause if you are doing a TEE in that situation, you can bet that the surgeon will just get a cardiologist in the room instead

 

[Galaxian]

at UCSF, they have a TEE requirement which leads to certification in the 3rd year.

 

[Molly Maquire]

Ok, here is a really dumb question, but I haven't done gas yet:

What does an anesthesologist have to do with TEE? Reading them or inserting them?

 

[UTSouthwestern]

Our program also has a TEE program but it is not forced onto everyone. If you want it, you get it.

 

[Tenesma]

like i said above - just be clear on whether you are getting basic or "advanced" (the one recognized by the american society of echocardiography).

Molly: not only do we insert them... but we also perform them and read them and use them in clinical situations... just like the PA catheter became a diagnostic tool, the TEE has become a wonderful tool in the OR!!!! of course, only when it is clinically indicated... however, you will find that it is primarily used in the Cardiac ORs to assist with evaluation of pre-operative valvular disease, post-operative valvular function, ventricular function/filling, eval for flows/clots, etc... the list goes on and on

 

[gaslady]

The anesthesia dept at my medical school was open to having residents train in TEE if they were clinically on track with the rest of their education. One of the attendings advised me against using that as a significant deciding factor between programs. He felt that the TEE training is quite significant. With the anesthesia board exam being so challenging, trying to train for TEE certification could negatively impact a resident's education and their performance on the board.

Something really important you should ask programs that you are considering is what their board pass rate is. One of my interviews at what I thought was a very respectable program turned out to have had a 50% pass rate the year before. That alerted me to some problems that the program had that I may not have caught onto otherwise.