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The Cardiac Society in New Zealand seeks to promote best cardiac practice and excellence in patient care. Guidelines covering a range of cardiac practices are therefore provided to the New Zealand cardiology community. This New Zealand echocardiography guideline was ratified on 5 June 2015. It should be read in conjunction with the Australian document Guidelines for Training and Performance in Adult Echocardiography ratified by the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand board on the 30th of November 2012, available at http://www.csanz.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/ 2014/12/Adult_Echo.pdf.
Echocardiography
Echocardiography is an indispensable tool in modern cardiology. The echocardiographic findings directly impact key management decisions in the large majority of cardiology patients. All New Zealand District Health Boards should provide access to echocardiography for their patients.
Cardiac Sonographers
Image acquisition in echocardiography is highly operator dependent. The skills and training of the sonographer are critical in echocardiography quality. Organisations that register cardiac sonographers in New Zealand are the Medical Radiation Technologists Board and the Clinical Physiologist Registration Board. Currently there are two major post graduate echocardiography qualification pathways in Australia and New Zealand. These are the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) qualification and the Diploma of Medical Ultrasound (DMU) qualification. All trainee sonographers in New Zealand should be working towards one of these or an equivalent recognised post graduate qualification.
All sonographers should be supported in their clinical practice by a physician with a special interest in echocardiography. In instances where this physician is not a cardiologist they should have equivalent training in echocardiography to a cardiologist. All studies performed by sonographers should be archived to a digital...