Working Group Nucleus Meeting for Echocardiography of the Croatian Cardiac Society of 18. March 2011 Print

Prof. Šeparović opened the meeting and welcomed all present persons.

The first item on the agenda is the role of the nucleus of the Working Group (WG). Prof. Šeparović Hanževački called the names of all invited members of the nucleus, these are: Prof. dr. J. Šeparović Hanževački, Prof. A. Matana, Prof. N. Drinković, Doc. dr. V. Peršić, Prof. dr. J. Mirat, Prof. dr. J. Vincelj, Doc. dr. D. Delić Brkljačić, Dr. S. Kranjčević, Dr. D. Žagar, Dr. I. Božić, Prim. dr. D. Planinc, Prim. dr. M. Ivanuša, dr. K. Šutalo.

Afterwards, she called the attendees to say if there was somebody else who needed to be involved. The goal of the nucleus is planning, implementation and organization of the WG activities and resolving current WG activities at the time when it is impossible to gather all of its members.

She suggested that the member of the nucleus should be a representative of technical profession, such as Mr. B. Breyer, ME and Mr. B. Ferek-Petrić, ME and put that issue to discussion. It was concluded that the above-named persons should be involved as external advisors. Besides, during discussion it was concluded that the nucleus should be opened for admission of some other members that may actively contribute to its work.

The issue regarding membership and membership fee was put on the agenda as the second item on the agenda. Currently, there are around 200 formally registered members in the WG. It is necessary to renew the membership and admit new members. Prof. Matana suggested that every person having interest in it may be a member of the WG and this is not related to awarding the license for work. The suggestion was accepted.

The issue of membership fee remained open. The suggestion is to relate the membership fee to expert meetings such as the Croatian Cardiac Congress or CroEcho. It was concluded that members would first gather followed by discussion on the issue of membership fee at the next meeting.

The third item on the agenda is the organization of the expert meeting on echocardiography entitled CroEcho. This is the symposium organized by WG in cooperation with the Heart and Blood Vessel Clinic of the Zagreb CHC and Thalassotherapy Opatija. It will be held from 20th to 22nd October 2011. The meeting would be organized every two years. During the meeting, the basic course on echocardiography with practical work on working stations by the producer GE and Toshiba will be organized. It was suggested that there should be an exhibition space of the WG where electronic registration of members would be performed. Ass. Prof. Peršić briefly presented his previous work on organizing the meeting and informed the attendees of verified arrival of some foreign lecturers: Badano, Kowalski, Lancelotti, Perez, Salvo.

The fourth item on the agenda is the web site of the WG that is at the moment sub-site of the web site of the Croatian Cardiac Society. The admission form for membership to the WG will be posted on the web site. The admission form would include the following details: title, first name and surname, age, sex, institution with address, telephone, e-mail, independent work experience in echocardiography, specialization and sub-specialization and years of completion thereof, membership in international societies of echocardiography. Head Doctor Ivanuša would be responsible for the website.

The fifth item on the agenda is the WG future activities. Prof. Šeparović Hanževački suggested that the WG should give its opinion on the price and division of echocardiography tests to the Croatian Institute for Heath Insurance. Divided are the proposals for entry of new codes for the following echocardiography tests that should be included in the code list of procedures for polyclinic patients: EHKK - contrast TEE echocardiography, TEE - transesophageal Doppler, TSE - stress echocardiography, CDMI and 2 DS - Doppler of myocardium and 2D strain, HES – hemodynamic Doppler, OTREH – optimization and testing of cardiac resynchronization electrostimulator, UZVS – echocardiography with digital data storage, PPEH – pericardial puncture guided by echocardiography. The draft letter was presented to the Croatian Institute for Heath Insurance and Head Doctor Planinc accepted the task to finalize the draft letter. It was suggested that the heart ultrasound should be divided into several categories depending on how serious the case is and how demanding the test is. It was suggested that later till the 1st of April the attendees should complement their proposals with suggestions regarding test packages, consumables and required devices for performing tests to institutions where they may perform the tests. It was concluded that other future activities need to include definition of the role of an echocardiography technician.

The seventh item on the agenda is the initiation of accreditation for training for performing echocardiography. The suggestion is that those who have been performing the test independently for five years and have subspecializaton, should be accredited according to the Decision by the nucleus after the nucleus has received a valid application. The Decision on verification shall be made at the meeting of the nucleus. The others should take an accreditation exam that should consist of two parts – theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part should be taken within the examination, while a mentor would be responsible for the practical part.

The meeting was adjourned with the decision that the Nucleus would meet in three months again.

The meeting ended at 20.05 o'clock.