Endorsed by the American College of Cardiology© 2020 American Society of Echocardiography
Kirkpatrick JN, Mitchell C, Taub C, et. al. JACC: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2020.04.002
- Priority is determining the importance of a study vs. staff risk for the value of information
- Delay non-critical studies.
- Plan the study ahead to know the images needed to answer the clinical question(s), while minimizing study time (Personnel exposure time).
- The decision to use Ultrasound Enhancing Agents (UEA) ideally should be made ahead a time to avoid procedure prolongation for preparing.
- Restrict students and/or inexperienced technologists to minimize scan time.
- Rapid review and documentation of Echo results with communication with the appropriate staff.
- Staff should practice appropriate safety precautions (PPE, hand-washing, etc.)