Clinical Training

Curriculum Highlights

A busy inpatient pediatric cardiology service, as well as active and diverse outpatient clinics, provide the foundation for fellows’ clinical education. Fellows establish continuity of care with patients starting in their first year of training. Non-invasive diagnostic imaging, including transthoracic, transesophageal and 3-D echocardiography, as well as cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is a keystone of fellow education. Diagnostic and interventional cardiac catheterization along with electrophysiology round out the core training curriculum beginning in the first year. Training in adult congenital heart disease begins in the second year, and capitalizes on the division’s strong partnership with the University Hospitals adult cardiology program. Supervision provided by faculty in each of the training areas is appropriate to the level of training and the demonstrated skill of the fellow.

Fellows on the inpatient service manage all medical and surgical cardiac patients admitted to UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. Fellows care for pre-operative patients in the cardiac stepdown unit, and are actively involved in the management of post-operative patients in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit. The inpatient fellow also provides cardiology consultation for other inpatient services and the emergency department.

The catheterization service provides fellows with opportunities to evaluate patients prior to procedures, discuss upcoming procedures with patients and their families, perform catheterizations, evaluate the studies with the interventional faculty, and present catheterization data in the combined pediatric cardiology-surgery catheterization conference. On the electrophysiology service, fellows learn to perform and analyze invasive electrophysiologic studies, including radiofrequency and cryoablation, transesophageal pacing, and pacemaker insertion in the cardiac catheterization laboratory. Progressive responsibility is added for performance and analysis of invasive procedures throughout the three years of fellowship.