Sonologist's characteristics related to a higher quality in fetal nuchal translucency measured in primary antenatal care centers

OBJECTIVE: To assess the quality of nuchal translucency (NT) measurements in primary care and the sonologist's characteristics related with a higher quality. METHODS: The median NT expressed in multiples of the median (MoM) was calculated for each sonologist of 14 participating antenatal primary care centers of the Catalan Institute of Health. A survey to the sonologists was used to establish variables related to higher-quality measurements. RESULTS: The median NT MoM obtained in 16 448 NT measurements, performed by 102 sonologists, was 0.94 MoM. NT underestimation was observed in 46% of the sonologists. Underestimation were less frequent among professionals who performed more than 230 ultrasounds per year (26% vs 53%;p = .022), those who completed the online Fetal Medicine Foundation (FMF) course (22% vs 54%; p = .021), and those who were subject to periodic audits (24% vs 56%; p = .021). Underestimation rate decreased from 60%, to 33% and 14% with the increase of the years of experience from less than 5 years, to 6 to 15 years and more than 15 years of experience, respectively (p = .029). CONCLUSIONS: Higher-quality measurements were demonstrated in sonologists who performed more ultrasounds per year, those with more years of scanning experience, those who completed the online FMF course, and those periodically audited.