Educational Goals

The educational goals of this program are to train fellows in a specialized cardiovascular disease area requiring cognitive, technical, educational and research skills involved in interventional cardiology. Although, the knowledge base for interventional cardiology has become increasingly well-defined as a result of advances in basic and clinical research in atherosclerosis, coronary disease, cardiomyopathy and valvular heart disease; it is also rapidly evolving with the advent of new devices, pharmacological agents and treatment strategies.

Our educational goals for training in interventional cardiology are aligned with and guided by the recommendations of the ACC/SCAI/AHA task force on optimal Adult Interventional Cardiology Training Programs as follows:

1. To understand the effectiveness and limitations of coronary interventional  procedures in order to select patients and procedure types appropriately.
2. To achieve the appropriate cognitive knowledge and technical skills needed to perform interventional cardiac procedures at the level of quality attainable through the present state of the art.
3. To foster an attitude of life-long learning and critical thinking skills needed to gain from experience and incorporate new developments.
4. To understand and commit to quality assessment and improvement in procedure performance.

The average caseload per month, per fellow, is approximately 25 to 40 cases. Although, a minimum of 250 interventions is required for successful completion of the fellowship program, a typical fellow will have performed 350 to 400 coronary interventions after 1 year of training. If the workload exceeds the available hours (average 80/week) mandated by the ACGME, the interventional faculty on call will perform cases with the assistance of the diagnostic cardiovascular disease fellow or the cath lab technician.

In all clinical experiences, fellows will:

1. Participate in pre-procedural planning, including the indications for the procedure and the selection of the appropriate procedure or instruments.
2. Perform the critical technical manipulations of the procedure.
3. Demonstrate substantial involvement in post-procedure care.
4. Be supervised by teaching faculty responsible for the procedure.

Interventional fellows participating in this program will be well-prepared to satisfactorily complete the ABIM certifying examination in the subspecialty of Interventional Cardiology. All fellows that have taken the Interventional Cardiology board exam have passed.