Interventional Cardiology Los Angeles Medical Center - Curriculum

The Interventional Cardiology program at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center is a one-year Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) approved program. The program adheres to the tenets outlined in the ACGME training requirements, American College of Cardiology (ACC) Core Cardiology Training Symposium (COCATS) guidelines and the American Heart Association (AHA) statement on clinical competency in Interventional Cardiology.

Our curriculum includes:

Procedures

1. Performing more than 500 coronary intervention procedures, including complex cases such as bifurcation lesions, CTO’s, left main intervention, etc.
2. Use of adjunctive devices such as distal protection devices, thrombectomy, rotational atherectomy, intravascular ultrasound imaging and pressure wire.
3. Performing peripheral vascular interventions and assisting in TEVAR, EVAR.
4. Assisting in structural heart disease procedures such as Percutaneous Mitral and Aortic Valvuloplasty, TAVR, Mitraclip, ASD/PFO closure and Alcohol septal ablation.
5. Using and managing Intra-aortic balloon pump and Impella.
6. Participating in a variety of diagnostic cardiac catheterizations and teaching the general cardiology procedures.
7. Evaluating patients pre-procedure, including assessing appropriateness criteria.
8. Following patients post-procedure and discharging patients.

Education

1. Participating in daily general cardiology and interventional cardiology conferences.
2. Participating in heart team conferences with Interventional Cardiologists and cardiac
3. Attending and participating in weekly cath conferences with experts in Interventional Cardiology.
4. Participating in monthly Journal Club, Morbidity and Mortality conference, and quarterly Quality Assessment conferences.
5. Preparing and giving lectures in Core Curriculum interventional cardiology conferences.
6. Attending local city and national conferences and board preparation courses as needed.

Research

Fellows are encouraged, supported and expected to be involved in at least one research project during their year of training. Additionally, fellows will participate in single center and multicenter trials that are ongoing in the cardiac catheterization laboratory.