Feasibility and Accuracy of Tele-Echocardiography, With Examinations by Nurses and Interpretation by an Expert via Telemedicine, in an Outpatient Heart Failure Clinic.

Objectives: To study the feasibility and accuracy of focused echocardiography by nurses supported by near-real-time interpretation via telemedicine by an experienced cardiologist.

Methods: Fifty consecutive patients were included from an outpatient heart failure (HF) clinic. Limited echocardiography was performed by 1 of 3 specialized nurses.

Adding point of care ultrasound to assess volume status in heart failure patients in a nurse-led outpatient clinic. A randomised study.

Objectives: Medical history, physical examination and laboratory testing are not optimal for the assessment of volume status in heart failure (HF) patients. We aimed to study the clinical influence of focused ultrasound of the pleural cavities and inferior vena cava (IVC) performed by specialised nurses to assess volume status in HF patients at an outpatient clinic.

Methods: HF outpatients were prospectively included and underwent laboratory testing, history recording and clinical examination by two nurses with and without an ultrasound examination of the pleural cavities and IVC using a pocket-size imaging device, in random order.