Curriculum

Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship

Our two-year Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, or ACGME-accredited program has one position. In addition to the basic curriculum, training also includes ablation of complex arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation, arrhythmia-associated congenital heart disease, ischemic/scar-related ventricular tachycardia and lead extractions.

Procedures are taught in conjunction with Core Cardiology Training Symposium (COCATS) requirements, as well as the curriculum outlined by the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) policy statement on clinical cardiac electrophysiology fellowship curriculum. At the completion of the fellowship, fellows will have acquired the knowledge base, judgment and technical skills to be an independent operator in electrophysiology.

Procedural training is provided in modern invasive EP laboratories with biplane fluoroscopy, three dimensional mapping system and intracardiac ultrasound. clinical cardiac electrophysiology fellows obtain invasive laboratory experience, as well as noninvasive training on device follow-up and management.

Our clinical cardiac electrophysiology fellowship provides an extensive core curriculum, which includes lectures on important topics in electrophysiology, including normal physiology, genetic basis of arrhythmia, surface ECG and ambulatory monitoring, invasive and non-invasive EP evaluations, laboratory safety, pharmacological and ablative therapy of arrhythmias, new imaging and therapeutic technologies and implantable cardiac devices. Fellows are expected to present several topics throughout the academic year.

Fellows in this program provide outpatient care during a weekly half day continuity clinic.

Research

It is strongly recommended that the clinical cardiac electrophysiology fellow participate in clinical research. Fellows are allocated time to attend local and national electrophysiology meetings and seminars. Projects are completed under the supervision of a faculty member. Clinical electrophysiology fellows may undertake an independent project or serve as a co-investigator in one or more of the division's ongoing clinical trials.

Faculty are currently involved in research on pacing in hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, intra-procedural parameters to optimize clinical outcome in cardiac resynchronization therapy, platelet function and its effects on post-procedural complications and risk of further thromboembolic events in patients with stroke, scar burden by MRI and risk of sudden death and ablative therapy for recurrent VT.

Each spring, the University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville sponsors a Research Day on the campus. Residents and fellows from all services present their investigations and compete for awards. The University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville further supports resident and fellow research development by offering Dean’s Fund Research Awards.