"The field has evolved in the past few years to include many new therapies," said Dr. Graham. "There has been a huge increase in the number of pediatric patients who have interventional catheterization. Complex arrhythmias can now be treated effectively with ablation and other electrophysiological therapies. That is very new. There have been changes in imaging, including MRI and echocardiographic breakthroughs. And for the first time, we now have a section on adult congenital heart disease in our training recommendations."
"Training program directors from around the country were involved in developing the recommendations," added Dr. Graham. "This effort had wide, grassroots support. It was reviewed a number of times by a number of organizations, and we're very happy to be able to publish it for the pediatric cardiology community."
"Such a comprehensive set of training guidelines is long overdue," said Robert H. Beekman III, M.D., F.A.C.C., co-chair of the writing committee. "There are many fellowship training programs and hundreds of fellows, but there were no guidelines as to what the programs should offer, or what the fellows should be looking for." Beekman calls the effort a first by saying, "It's true that pediatric echocardiography has had some training recommendations for a few years, but for the fellowship as a whole, there have never been training guidelines."
Because of the importance of academic research in pediatric cardiology, the guidelines advise that trainees spend at least 18 months, and ideally more, doing research. "The field of pediatric cardiology is absolutely dependent upon research, both basic and clinical, and there is a critical need for us to develop physician-scientists in our specialty to ensure future progress," Dr. Beekman explained.
"Training to become a researcher as well as an excellent clinician won't be easy," Beekman added. "Balanc
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Contact: Amy Murphy
amurphy@acc.org
301-581-3476
American College of Cardiology
26-Sep-2005