Echocardiography performed by emergency physicians: impact on diagnosis and therapy

Echocardiography is the "gold standard" for diagnosing many cardiac and pericardial abnormalities. It is noninvasive and accurate, but in most emergency departments is only as available as the technician or the cardiologist. We describe our experience in training emergency physicians to perform cardiac ultrasound, and clinical situations in which we have found echocardiography to be useful.