For Health Professionals

Clinical Rotations

Consult
For each four-week block, a cardiovascular disease fellow is assigned to two supervising cardiology attendings. The fellow serves as a consultant for assigned general medical and surgical consult inpatients with a variety of diagnoses (chest pain, refractory heart failure, management of arrhythmias, preoperative evaluation, and postoperative management of cardiac disorders). Expected daily census is approximately 15 patients (5 new consults; 10-15 follow-ups).

Coronary Care/Intermediate care (CC/IC)
Cardiovascular fellows supervise the resident team in the CC/IC. They are assigned to follow an average of 15 teaching patients with myocardial infarction, unstable angina, arrhythmias, pericardial diseases, valve disease and heart failure.

Peripheral vascular disease
Fellows work one-on-one with attending cardiologists with special knowledge and expertise in peripheral vascular disease and follow patients in a consultative, advisory capacity. Fellows perform and interpret Doppler arterial studies (carotid and extremity) and duplex ultrasound studies of lower extremities.

Cardiovascular surgery
Each fellow will have a maximum of six CVICU patients to follow from preoperative assessment through surgery to discharge. Each SSF-1 will be the only trainee on the four-week rotation. Fellows perform preoperative evaluations of elective CVS patients; intraoperative PA catheterizations and TEE placement under the supervision of a cardiac anesthesiologist; surgical observation; and provide post-operative care (ventilator weaning, balloon pump management, medication management).

Echocardiography
A minimum of four rotations is required, usually with one, or a maximum of two, fellows per four-week rotation. Responsibilities include performance and interpretation of echocardiographic studies, performance of transthoracic and transesophageal echoes and supervision of treadmill and dobutamine echoes.

Electrophysiology
Outpatient and inpatient electrophysiology consults include programming and follow-up surveillance of pacemakers, evaluation of patients with unexplained syncope or arrhythmias, and evaluation of patients with heart failure who require prophylactic placement of an ICD and/or biventricular pacemakers. Fellows will be supervised in the performance of electrical conversion, temporary pacemaker insertion and device follow-ups.

Nuclear cardiology/stress tests/ECG
During the three-month nuclear medicine rotation, cardiovascular disease fellows have the opportunity to interpret 10-15 myocardial imaging studies per day. They are supervised in the performance and/or interpretation of studies that include radionuclide stress tests; ECG; exercise and pharmacologic stress testing; cardiolite imaging and MUGA.

Cardiac catheterization laboratory
During Cardiac Catheterization rotations, fellows perform four to six catheterizations per day. Supervised incremental experience will cover both left and right heart catheterizations. Fellows will also receive an introduction to PCI and other procedures such as PFO closure and IVUS. Christiana Care has five busy catheterization laboratories on campus. At any one time, there usually will be only one fellow (and a maximum of two) assigned to the Cath Lab. This will insure that fellows will be readily able to achieve the required minimum of 100 right and left heart catheterizations, and most certainly many more.

Cardiac rehabilitation/preventive medicine/screening
This two-week rotation offers the opportunity to work one-on-one with the director of cardiac rehabilitation and with a designated cardiologist who has special interest and expertise in lipid disorders.

CT/MRI
Fellows spend two weeks working with an attending cardiologist or radiologist with additional training in Cardiac MRI and CT. At the conclusion of the rotation, fellows will have knowledge of the role of cardiac MRI and CT in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease.

Congenital heart disease
Each fellow spends four weeks on the Congenital Heart Disease rotation at Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. Two weeks are spent in the outpatient clinic where the fellow will examine patients (ages 16-21 and younger) with congenital heart diseases, both preoperatively and postoperatively, as well as those in long-term follow-up. Fellows also rotate one week in the Pediatric Cardiac/Cardiovascular Surgery Unit, and one week in the Intermediate Care Unit.

Outpatient continuity experience
Each cardiovascular disease fellow is assigned to one cardiology faculty attending physician for his or her weekly continuity experience, one-half day per week for all three years of the program. The supervising attending selects patients to be followed by the fellow from among those in his practice. Patients selected will have a wide variety of problems encountered by practicing cardiologists in the outpatient setting to include common and uncommon problems in both male and female patients.

For Health Professionals

Fellowships

Clinical Rotations