Core curriculum for the training of pediatric invasive/interventional cardiologists: report of the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions Committee on Pediatric Cardiology Training Standards.

Within the field of pediatric cardiology, a number of subspecialty fields are generally recognized. Some of these overlap. For example, most electrophysiologists also would consider themselves to be clinical cardiologists. Some fields, however, are relatively mutually exclusive. For example, most clinical pediatric cardiologists would not consider themselves to be electrophysiologists and would admit that there is a different knowledge, skill, and experience base that separates an electrophysiologist from other specialists within the broader field of pediatric cardiology. Likewise, it is our opinion that a separate knowledge, skill, and experience base exists among pediatric Invasive/Interventional cardiologists. The purpose of this report is to define the unique knowledge and skill base required for the training of an invasive pediatric cardiologist. The scope of this report is limited to the training of Invasive/Interventional cardiologists dealing with the treatment of pediatric patients and the cardiac diseases most often encountered in these patients. This report describes in detail the core curriculum suggested for the training of an invasive pediatric cardiologist. For these purposes, invasive pediatric cardiology encompasses all aspects of pediatric diagnostic cardiac catheterization, whether congenital or acquired. Additional curriculum regarding training for therapeutic or interventional procedures is also addressed because of today's needs: most pediatric cardiac catheterizations are performed to acquire specific data that cannot be obtained otherwise by non-invasive technologies and are required for the best medical or surgical management. However, more and more frequently the need for a cardiac catheterization entertains the possibility of having to proceed with an interventional procedure, and therefore, to conserve the vessels of pediatric patients as well as to consider costs, any invasive pediatric cardiologist should be well trained in most of the accepted interventional pediatric cardiology procedures. The curricula is divided here into five major sections followed by a bibliography keyed to those sections. Also included is a suggested format for the objective evaluation and documentation of the progress of invasive pediatric cardiology fellows. It is intended to complement the core curriculum and provide a means for standardizing the evaluation of invasive pediatric cardiology fellows.