Cardiovascular Journal of Africa: Vol 34 No 5 (NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023)

CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 34, No 5, November/December 2023 AFRICA 271 Our study is primarily limited by the small sample size. While the training model may be generalisable, only two residents at a single teaching hospital participated in the study, making comment on generalisability impossible. This study serves as a proof of concept that a short, multimodal training course can lead to skill acquisition in echocardiography. Future work will focus on adapting this model to larger groups, other geographic contexts and other types of acquired and congenital heart disease. Additionally, evaluation of trainees took place during and immediately following the training period. This timeline does not allow us to comment on the maintenance of skills over time. We plan to evaluate this schedule in future studies to determine the frequency of needed refresher trainings. We also report only qualitative assessment of the ventricular structure and function, as quantitative evaluation may not be available in resource-limited settings. In this context, abnormalities detected by non-cardiologists can be categorised into levels of severity with relative confidence, given the moderate to strong agreement in our study. Conclusion Non-cardiologist residents can be trained in focused echocardiography in a low-resource setting using handheld echocardiographic machines. This capacity building could increase access to point-of-care focused cardiac ultrasound in resource-limited settings if successful in broader contexts. References 1. Zimmerman MS, Smith AGC, Sable CA, Echko MM, Wilner LB, Olsen HE, et al. Global, regional, and national burden of congenital heart disease, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2020; 4(3): 185–200. 2. 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