The Inter-rater Reliability of Echocardiographic Diastolic Function Evaluation Among Emergency Physician Sonographers

Abstract Study Objectives In a patient with dyspnea and suspected CHF, the evaluation of diastolic function involves: tissue Doppler of the mitral annulus and 2) pulsed wave Doppler of the mitral inflow. We aimed to 1) determine the inter-rater reliability for overall diastolic function and 2) evaluate the reliability of the individual Doppler measurements. Methods A convenience sample of adult emergency department patients was prospectively enrolled by 8 EPs who had participated in a 1-hour didactic session. Patients were selected if they had a history of CHF or suspected abnormal diastolic function due to chronic hypertension. Diastolic function was considered to be abnormal if Tissue Doppler of the septal e′ was