The cardiology fellowship curriculum is structured to provide well-rounded training in all aspects of the cardiovascular disease.

First Year

In the first year of fellowship, fellows spend two months on the cardiology teaching consult service, two months on the cardiac catheterization service, three months on the non-invasive service (including echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, and stress imaging), two months in the cardiac care unit, one month on the electrophysiology service, one month of elective time, and one month on research.

On the cardiology consult service, fellows perform primary consultations on teaching service patients admitted to the Medical Center.  Since a private attending does not follow these patients, the fellow has greater autonomy in recommending diagnostic and therapeutic measures.  On the cardiac catheterization service, fellows perform introductory cardiac catheterization and learn the basics of catheterization such as arterial sheath placement, right heart catheterization and placement of temporary pacemakers.  During the non-invasive rotation, fellows are involved in both the basics of performing and interpreting echocardiographic procedures as well as basic stress ECG.  In the coronary care unit and consult service, fellows are responsible for supervising and teaching medical residents and students, and learning to achieve the high level of professionalism necessary to interact effectively with patients, families, and other health professionals.  On the electrophysiology service fellows perform arrhythmia consults, review electrophysiologic studies and are introduced  into the EP lab.

Second Year

In the second year of fellowship, fellows spend two months on the telemetry service, two months on the cardiac catheterization service, two months on the electrophysiology service, one month on the non-invasive service, one month in the CCU, one month on the congestive heart failure service, two months of elective time, and one month on research.

On the telemetry service fellows supervise medical residents, interns and medical students.  The cardiology fellow performs as a junior attending under the direct supervision of the telemetry teaching attending developing the knowledge base, interactive skills, technical skills, and learning attitudes to provide high-level care to adult patients with the most common forms of heart disease. 

On the non-invasive services fellows master more advanced echocardiographic skills such as treadmill and Dobutamine echocardiography, independent performance of echocardiography, introduction to transesophageal echocardiograms, and nuclear cardiology interpretation.  On the electrophysiology service fellows receive advanced instruction in radio frequency ablations, interpretation of Holter monitors and event recorders, ECG interpretation and permanent pacemaker follow-up.

Third Year

The third year of fellowship allows for significant elective time to be arranged to serve the educational needs of the individual trainee.  During the third year fellows spend one month in the CCU, two months on the nuclear cardiology rotation, one month on the vascular service, one month in the non-invasive laboratory, one month on research, and six months of elective time.  The elective time is flexible, allowing the fellow the opportunity to complete a research project and/or acquire specialized skills in either non-invasive cardiology such as CT/MR, echocardiography, electrophysiology, nuclear medicine, or further develop skills in diagnostic cardiac catheterization.

Due to the structure of the program, graduating fellows will be level II certified in cardiac catheterization, echocardiography and nuclear cardiology.  Opportunities are available in the third year to become level III certified in echcardiography or level II certified in cardiac CT.  

Curriculum Grid 

	PGY-4	PGY-5	PGY-6
CATH LAB	2	2
CCU	2	1	1
CHF		1
CONSULTS	2
EPS	1	2
ELECTIVE	1	2	6
NON-INVASIVE	3	1	1
NUCLEAR			2
RESEARCH	1	1	1
TELEMETRY		2
VASCULAR			1
TOTAL MONTHS	12	12	12