Curriculum

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 rotate  on the cardiology teaching consult service, the cardiac catheterization service, the non-invasive service (including echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, and stress imaging), the cardiac care unit, the electrophysiology service and one month on research.

Echolab Reading Room

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 rotate on the telemetry service, the cardiac catheterization service, the electrophysiology service, the non-invasive service, the CCU, the congestive heart failure service, one month 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.

Fellows Lounge

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 rotate in the CCU, the nuclear cardiology service,the heart failure service, 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.

Rotations

Ambulatory Care

Throughout the three years of Cardiology  fellowship training, one-half day per week of ambulatory care cardiology is required.  During the first two years, the heart of ambulatory care training takes place in the cardiology outpatient clinic in the Willowcrest Building and Germantown Campus.  Fellows are assigned patients initially and are encouraged to add to their clinical population from patients encountered during their clinical electives.

During the third year of fellowship, fellows attend private outpatient office with an attending supervisor with whom they elect to work.

Conferences

Conference Room

The Division of Cardiovascular Disease provides eight hours of conference time per week. Regularly scheduled conferences include: Cardiology Grand Rounds, Case Conference, Journal Club, Echocardiography/Nuclear Cardiology Conference, Electrophysiology Conference, Cardiac Catheterization Conference, Heart Failure Conference, ECG didactic and reading conferences, Interdisciplinary Peripheral Vascular Disease Conference, and Department of Medicine interdisciplinary fellowship conferences. 

In the summer months the regular conference schedule is superceded by a comprehensive Core Curriculum Series designed to give a broad overview of Cardiovascular Diseases.

Self-study materials such as the ACCSAP and ACC Board Review are available on through Cardiosource Plus. In addition, a series of board review CDs and imaging teaching files are available for review.  Fellows have access to a wide variety of teaching materials from the American College of Cardiology via Cardiosource Plus.

Nuclear Physics Course

During the second year of the fellowship a nuclear physics course provides 80 hours of didactic education required by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission towards Nuclear Cardiology certification.