Tag Archives: training

The consultant workforce in ACHD in the UK is small, and faces substantial shortages. With very few trainees currently opting to train in ACHD, the workforce will fall even further behind, as patient numbers and complexity increase.5 A career in congenital heart disease – what does it offer the cardiologist? A career in ACHD offers a professional lifetime of endless variation. In outpatients, you will see patients with infinitely variable anatomy and often complex physiology, over the course of many years, and through many medical and non-medical lifetime events. Fewer patients need inpatient care, and, when required, this is usually due to

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The three trainees and their supervisor. From left to right: Dr Sarah Soar, Dr Philippe Wheeler,Dr Laura Styles and Dr Abdallah Al-Mohammad Introduction For newly qualified doctors, the Foundation Programme provides a stimulating and exciting entry into a career in medicine. As the name suggests, doctors work within a range of specialties and environments in order to build on the knowledge learnt at medical school, and develop as a clinician in preparation for specialty training. We had the privilege of being the first to work as foundation doctors in a new role – FY1 in heart failure – and, in this article, we hope to outline some of the

Professor Miriam J Johnson Overcoming barriers The misunderstanding that palliative care is only for those in the last few days or weeks of life, only to be implemented once all other options are gone and irreversible deterioration is certain, forms a major barrier to access to palliative care. Attempts to identify a prognostic tool to identify when palliative care should be employed have failed, and the consensus is that a problem-based approach is more fit for purpose.11–12 Such a model would enable the “concerns of today” facing the patient to be addressed in the context of the management options appropriate at their stage of disease

Introduction In the modern era, patient safety has become one of the most important issues facing doctors and institutions. Cardiology is a craft speciality. Procedures must be learnt by trainees, but there is a risk, in so doing, of harming patients. The purpose of this study was to ask whether it is possible, albeit within a single institution, to provide training in coronary angiography at a district general hospital (DGH) without causing harm, by comparing the complication rate of trainees with consultants in a large case series. Methods Between August 2010 and December 2013, procedural complications resulting from cardiac catheterisation

Moreover, the quality of ECG interpretation remains completely obscure to the patient. When any healthcare professional speaks to a patient about that patient’s ECG, the patient automatically assigns to the healthcare professional a degree of competence in the said professional’s ability to read the ECG, which the patient (very reasonably) presumes the professional to have. Sadly, this confidence is usually misplaced. Furthermore, the healthcare workers themselves are often completely unaware of their lack of competence. Possible solutions There are three possible approaches to the alleviation of this problem: (i) the use of computers in

Introduction The scientific evidence for cardiovascular (CVD) disease prevention is compelling but, as demonstrated by the EUROASPIRE and ASPIRE-2-PREVENT surveys, translating this evidence into effective patient care in the real-world in clinical practice is challenging.1,2 However, the same academic group have undertaken a number of trials and have shown that it is possible to implement national and international clinical guidelines and achieve the lifestyle, medical and therapeutic targets associated with reduced cardiovascular events and improved health outcomes.3-5 In recognising the need to bridge the implementation gap for prevention a

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Demographics The sample size was 261, constituting a 35% response rate (denominator: 745 trainees enrolled in cardiology with the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board [JRCPTB]). Of respondents, 21% were female, though still a small proportion, this is the highest in eight years (for comparison, 13% female in 2004). Of the sample, 44% described themselves as white: white British (41%) or other white (3%). This continues a trend towards greater ethnic diversity. An increasing proportion of trainees (32%) originate in the Indian subcontinent (India 23%, Pakistan 7%, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh 1% each). The total in 2004 was 19%. The m

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