The country’s cardiology centers have been producing subspecialists in the field of Invasive and Interventional Cardiology. To date, 11 hospitals and/or medical centers are involved in training these subspecialists in a 1 to 2-year program. And to this date, there have been no uniform standards and guidelines as to what comprises the basic and/or acceptable training outcomes for the interventionalist in training. This paper describes the development of the core curriculum for an interventional cardiovascular training program to prepare its trainees to be competent in performing invasive diagnostic and interventional cardiovascular procedures as part of comprehensive patient care. The task force for the core curriculum of the interventional training program gathered several officers and leaders of the PSCCI, the training heads of the various interventional programs in the country, as well as experts in the field of cardiology education. Through a series of meetings, consultations, and workshops, the task force laid out the template on which all the training programs would be based. Such a framework considered the international standards regarding minimum caseloads for interventional training and the peculiar situation of each training institution. International standards like the Core Cardiovascular Training Statement (COCATS 4) Task Force 10: Training in Cardiac Catheterizations and the 2020 EAPCI Core Curriculum for Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions served as the reference framework for key recommendations. A consensus was achieved that upheld the highest standards of competence without disenfranchising certain institutions due to intricacies and uniqueness of hospital set-up and training situation.

Training ; Education ; Curriculum

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected training programs because of changes in patient load and service assignments. This posed certain challenges in the implementation of the pre-COVID-19 training curriculum recommendations by the Philippine Heart Association Specialty Board on Adult Cardiology.

OBJECTIVE

This article describes the challenges, training adjustments and innovations, and the impact on the training program of these changes instituted by the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) Division of Cardiovascular Medicine (DCVM) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

This is a descriptive article based on review of changes and improvements of the UP-PGH DCVM training manual and guidelines adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

FINDINGS

The COVID-19 pandemic challenges provided opportunities for innovation of the training program. The program emphasized focus on maximizing team-based learning from every clinical encounter toward achievement of learning outcomes and competency. The training committee closely monitored the learning environment and trainee's learning progress to achieve outcomes beyond the traditional metrics such as census and procedural numbers. It adopted online clinical encounters, conference, and case discussion. To enhance learning, virtual engagement supplemented physical encounters between consultants and training fellows assigned to various clinical rotations. Real-world research results on the impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health were utilized to enhance knowledge. Risk mitigation and transmission reduction strategies were adopted to ensure safety of all staff. The division also incorporated a strong wellness program to provide holistic approach to trainees' and trainers' health. New competencies were developed such as telemedicine, infection prevention and control, and creation of virtual patient education programs.

CONCLUSION

The training institution met the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic with resiliency and unity. The adjustments and innovations in training instituted by PGH DCVM proved useful in addressing the challenges posed by the pandemic. The situation was viewed as an opportunity to innovate and pursue a better program adaptive of the ever-changing environment, toward forming competent future cardiologists by enhancing focus not only on numbers but rather on the process of achievement of learning outcomes, embracing virtual and online strategies, institutionalization of wellness program, and development of new guidelines in the approaching patient management cognizant of both health care provider and patient safety and new competencies such as patient virtual education and telemedicine in cardiology.