Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Point-of-care echocardiography using portable machines is an exciting development in emergency medicine. Recent improvements in ultrasound quality mean that emergency physicians are finding echocardiography useful in a variety of clinical settings. ⋯ Patients with clinical conditions such as breathlessness, undifferentiated shock, chest pain and cardiac arrest may benefit. There is a steep learning curve involved in acquiring these skills and the specialty needs to take care in the way that its practitioners are accredited and perform echocardiography.