Focused Echocardiography in the Emergency Department

FEED (Focused Echocardiography in the Emergency Department) is a practical, clinically focused course designed to equip acute and emergency clinicians with core echocardiographic skills required to rapidly assess undifferentiated chest pain and critically unwell patients in the emergency setting. The course emphasises pattern recognition, physiological understanding, and immediate clinical decision-making rather than comprehensive echocardiography, taught by NHS Consultant Echocardiography Specialists.

The course covers seven key curriculum areas:
• Foundations of FEED — indications, limitations, image acquisition, and systematic approach
• Right heart causes — acute right ventricular strain, pulmonary embolism, pulmonary hypertension, tamponade, and pericardial pathology
• Left heart causes — ventricular dysfunction, acute coronary syndromes, acute valvular pathology, and cardiomyopathies
• Aortic causes — aortic pathology, acute aortic syndromes, root dilation, dissection signs, and echo limitations
• Lung pathology — pneumonia, pleural effusion, pulmonary congestion, and pneumothorax
• The crashing patient — rapid echo in shock and cardiac arrest, shock assessment, peri-arrest scenarios, and haemodynamics
• Echo in life support — integration into ALS, cardiac arrest protocols, reversible causes, and minimal CPR interruption

By the end of the course, participants will be able to perform focused echocardiographic assessment in the ED, identify key features of life-threatening chest pain causes, use echo to support diagnosis of the crashing patient, and integrate echocardiography safely into life support and resuscitation.