Abstract
Objective: To create the Saudi Arabian Society of Echocardiography Accreditation Commission Guidelines and Standards.
Method: A review of available the North American and European accreditation guidelines was conducted and a model, locally appropriate for Saudi echocardiography laboratories and applicable in the current settings, was developed.
Results: The document specifies the organizational setting as well as the following categories of personnel: medical director, technical director, medical staff, and technical staff. The guideline team also examined aspects related to the facility and the facility safety policies and protocols. Examination and procedural issues for Adult transthoracic echocardiography including instrumentation, archiving media, examination interpretation and reports are also included as well as the required components for the Adult transthoracic echocardiography report. The last section of the guidelines focuses on Key Performance Indicators. A similar approach was taken regarding the Adult Stress Echocardiography, Transesophageal Echo, and monitoring of the patients during the procedures.
Conclusion: The development of the Saudi Echocardiography Guidelines and Standards is a basic requirement for accreditation and also mandatory to improve the quality and utilization of such an important investigation.