National EvaluATion of the provision of Critical Care ECHOcardiography in Shock (NEAT-ECHO)

Echocardiography is an invaluable diagnostic tool in the management of critically ill patients presenting with shock, facilitating rapid identification of the underlying aetiology and response to treatments at the bedside. Current national guidelines from both the Intensive Care Society and NHS England recommend echocardiography should be immediately available at all times in shocked patients. However, anecdotally we know this standard is not currently being met in the UK.

This project will be the first piece of work evaluating the provision of critical care echocardiography in the UK and the procedures in place to facilitate governance and training. We are very excited to be running this in conjunction with the Intensive Care Society, the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine and the British Society of Echocardiography.

Timeframe

It involves a short one-off site survey and one week of data collection for all patients admitted with shock. The data collection for each patient is a brief CRF utilising retrospective data, it is not time consuming and highly achievable within the one week period of your choosing within the four week national data collection window (4-31 March 2024).

 Data Collection

The data collection form will be electronic via RedCap.

 Getting involved

· Trainee Site Lead(s) - those taking a leadership role, registering the project locally and organising the data collection within their trust.

· Collaborators - those who play a key role in the delivery of the study during the data collection window.

All collaborators will be cited in any publication of NEAT-ECHO. 

If you are interested please contact our project lead Dr Luke Flower at: neatecho@gmail.com.