A web tool for Standardisation in Echocardiography

Aim of the presentation is to propose a method for standardise the reporting in diagnostic by imaging techniques. To explain the concept of standardisation proposed, the presentation shows what has been done in Laboratory Medicine with the programmes for the evaluation of the quality, explaining the differences between Internal Quality Control (IQC) and External Quality Assessment Schemes (EQAS) where several laboratories can compare their performance. The Institute of Clinical Physiology of the italian National Research Council (CNR-IFC) has been a provider for EQAS programmes for over than thirty years. Next a new company, has been founded to manage these programmes. During these years great steps have been done. Nowadays the laboratories can have a lot of information organised in clear and useful off-line and on-line reports, and more can be done to evaluate the laboratory's performance, in terms of precision and accuracy. Thanks to his experience on the EQAS programmes and to the know-how on echocardiography, CNR-IFC proposed to apply the model defined for the EQAS programmes to the imaging techniques. A new web platform, i-Train (http://i-train.eu), is presented as a tool for the remote training (e-training) in imaging with the aim to improve the physicians' skill in interpreting diagnostic images and consequently to standardise the reporting. iTrain, with the already available programmes on TransThoracic Echocardioography, Stress Echocardiography and Congenital Heart Disease Echocardiography, has been adopted as the e- learning and e-training platform for the AdriHealthMob project (IPA Adriatic, CrossBorder Cooperation Programmes).