Program Description

The Adult Cardiology Residency Training Program is designed to offer broad training in clinical cardiology leading to eligibility for certification by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. The program is intended to prepare trainees for independent practice as consultants in clinical cardiology and to provide an appropriate environment for the pursuit of further opportunities for those who plan a career in academic medicine.

Duration

3 years

Clinical Training

The integrated training program is composed of carefully-structured, goal and objective-specific, 4-week rotations designed to develop an appropriate level of expertise in the following areas:

  • Ambulatory and consultative cardiology
  • The coronary care unit and post-CCU management
  • Post-cardiac surgery care
  • Cardiac emergencies
  • Electrocardiography, exercise stress testing, and Holter monitoring
  • M-mode, 2D and doppler echocardiography
  • Diagnostic cardiac catheterization and coronary arteriography
  • Nuclear cardiology
  • Temporary and permanent pacemaker insertion and management
  • Other procedural skills, including cardioversions and pericardiocentesis
  • Pediatric cardiology and adult congenital heart disease
  • Cardiac rehabilitation
  • Clinical cardiac electrophysiology and device management
  • Heart failure and transplantation
  • Advanced cardiac imaging

In addition, opportunities exist for experience in the following focus areas:

  • Interventional cardiology
  • Transesophageal echocardiography
  • Atherosclerosis prevention program

Trainees will undertake the majority of their rotations at the University Hospital and Victoria Hospital sites of the London Health Sciences Centre. The University and Victoria Hospitals offer exposure to primary, secondary and tertiary care cardiology and have a full range of cardiac services, including non-invasive laboratories, cardiac catheterization laboratories, coronary care units, percutaneous coronary and structural cardiac intervention, cardiac electrophysiology laboratories, cardiac surgery, nuclear cardiology and advanced cardiac imaging, heart failure and cardiac transplantation and acute ischemic coronary syndromes.  While trainees will be exposed to several members of the teaching faculty during each rotation, there will be a single supervisor for each rotation, who will be responsible for ensuring the specific goals and objectives for that rotation are met and for preparing the end-of-rotation trainee evaluations. Trainees will be required to participate in the normal on-call schedule of the postgraduate program, including Coronary Care Unit coverage.

In the C1 year, residents will have a traditional 4 week clinic block where they will be introduced to ambulatory cardiology. In the C2 and C3 years, the residents will be paired with a clinic mentor and will run their own longitudinal ambulatory cardiology clinic under the supervision of their mentor.

Educational Activities

In addition to the clinical training described above, there is an active didactic educational program of rounds, seminars, conferences, journal clubs, critical lecture appraisal/research methodology and visiting professor days. A didactic program of core curriculum seminars is held weekly, during the academic year, with presentations by both trainees and faculty members; trainees are released from clinical responsibilities in order to attend these sessions.  Participation in the educational programs of the Faculty and Department of Medicine, as they relate to cardiology, is encouraged, as is attendance at a national cardiology meeting each year.  

For the purpose of understanding the theoretical underpinnings of and application of Quality Improvement (QI), all trainees are required to participate in and complete a QI project. In addition to the participation in a QI project, each trainee will be expected to participate in other cardiovascular research project(s) and present their findings at the Annual Residents' Research Day.

In order to improve their scholar, communicator and collaborator skills, the cardiology trainees are expected to participate in selected undergraduate and postgraduate teaching opportunities.

Over the three year training program, the trainees are permitted four months of pre-approved elective rotation time, of which two months may be away from Western. Community practice electives are encouraged.

The program residency is for 3 years. Program length of training does not exceed the Royal College or College of Family Physicians of Canada standard.