National Survey on Training in Pediatric Cardiology by the “Junges Forum” of the DGPK

Jan-Pit Horst; Miriam Michel; Rouven Kubicki; Nora Lang; Martin Zschirnt; Julia Moosmann

doi:10.1055/s-0039-1700968

The Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon, Table of Contents

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2020; 68(S 03): e1-e8
DOI: 10.1055/s-0039-1700968

Pediatric and Congenital Cardiology

Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

National Survey on Training in Pediatric Cardiology by the “Junges Forum” of the DGPK

Jan-Pit Horst

¹Center of Congenital Heart Disease, Heart and Diabetes Center Northrhine-Westfalia, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany

,

Miriam Michel

²Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics III, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Tirol, Austria

,

Rouven Kubicki

³University Heart Center Freiburg - Bad Krozingen, Department of Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, Freiburg, Germany

,

Nora Lang

⁴Department of Paediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Disease, German Heart Centre, Munich, Germany

,

Martin Zschirnt

⁵Department of Pediatric Cardiology, University Hospital of Giessen and Marburg Campus Giessen, Giessen, Hessen, Germany

,

Julia Moosmann

⁶Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany

› Author Affiliations

Abstract

All articles of this category

Abstract

Background This is the first national survey of residents and fellows in pediatric cardiology in Germany evaluating training, research activity, and the general working environment.

Methods An online questionnaire including 62 questions (SurveyMonkey) was developed by the “Junges Forum” of the German Society of Pediatric Cardiology. Fellows and residents during training and up to 3 years after completing their pediatric cardiology fellowship were invited to participate.

Results A total of 102 pediatric cardiology fellows and residents completed the questionnaire. Many participants complained about their training as being unstructured (47%) and non-transparent (37%). The numbers of technical and catheter interventions required by the national medical board in Germany cannot be achieved, especially regarding invasive procedures. Sixty per cent work more than contractually agreed, usually in Germany it is 40 hours daytime work plus on calls, while 90% of all participants prefer less than 50 weekly working hours; 50% of the participants are engaged in research that is usually done during their spare time. More than 90% are satisfied with their professional relationships with colleagues and coworkers. Seventy-eight per cent describe their career perspectives as promising, and 84% would start a fellowship in pediatric cardiology again.

Conclusion The majority of pediatric cardiology fellows and residents are satisfied with their working environment and with their choice of a career in pediatric cardiology. Besides the heavy work load, we identified the urgent desire for better structured transparent clinical training concept including the teaching of manual skills, i.e., invasive procedures and catheterization.

Keywords

congenital heart disease - CHD - cardiology/cardiologist - pediatric

Full Text

References

References
1 Herzstiftung D. Deutscher Herzbericht 2018; 2018: 165-196 . Available at https://www.herzstiftung.de/herzbericht . Accessed on January 2, 2020
2 Osterloh F. Mehr personal, weniger Bürokratie. Dtsch Arztebl 2017; 27–28: 1365 . Available at https://www.aerzteblatt.de/archiv/192374/Krankenhausaerzte-Mehr-Personal-weniger-Buerokratie . Accessed on January 2, 2020
3 Allan CK, Tannous P, DeWitt E. , et al. A Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship Boot Camp improves trainee confidence. Cardiol Young 2016; 26 (08) 1514-1521
4 Ceresnak SR, Axelrod DM, Sacks LD, Motonaga KS, Johnson ER, Krawczeski CD. Advances in Pediatric Cardiology Boot Camp: Boot Camp training promotes fellowship readiness and enables retention of knowledge. Pediatr Cardiol 2017; 38 (03) 631-640
5 Brown AE, Bradbrook KE, Casey FE. A survey of adult and pediatric cardiology fellows on training received in family planning counseling. J Womens Health (Larchmt) 2019
6 Flyer JN, Joong A. Improving peer mentorship: a novel fellow “House” program. J Am Coll Cardiol 2016; 68 (25) 2907-2910
7 Poetini AL, Guenther SPW, Lewandowski J. , et al. Residents' survey 2013 - Between requirements and reality in cardiac surgery departments in Germany. Z Herz- Thorax- Gefäßchir 2014; 28: 352-362
8 Damp J, Anthony R, Davidson MA, Mendes L. Effects of transesophageal echocardiography simulator training on learning and performance in cardiovascular medicine fellows. J Am Soc Echocardiogr 2013; 26 (12) 1450-1456.e2
9 Alsaad AA, Bhide VY, Moss Jr JL, Silvers SM, Johnson MM, Maniaci MJ. Central line proficiency test outcomes after simulation training versus traditional training to competence. Ann Am Thorac Soc 2017; 14 (04) 550-554
10 Bagai A, O'Brien S, Al Lawati H. , et al. Mentored simulation training improves procedural skills in cardiac catheterization: a randomized, controlled pilot study. Circ Cardiovasc Interv 2012; 5 (05) 672-679
11 Joshi A, Wragg A. Simulator training in interventional cardiology. Interv Cardiol (Lond) 2016; 11 (01) 70-73
12 Roeth AA, Mille M. What do young surgeons want? Modern requirements for senior surgeons [in German]. Zentralbl Chir 2018; 143 (01) 50-54
13 Meyerson SL, Sternbach JM, Zwischenberger JB, Bender EM. Resident Autonomy in the operating room: expectations versus reality. Ann Thorac Surg 2017; 104 (03) 1062-1068
14 Helm PC, Körten MA, Abdul-Khaliq H. , et al. Three parties, one direction: Research priorities in adults with congenital heart disease. What do professionals, patients and relatives want to know?. Int J Cardiol 2016; 207: 220-229
15 Dehghani P, Wood DA, Sharieff W, Basit N, Cheema AN. Interventional cardiology fellowship training in Canada: a report card using standardized criteria. Catheter Cardiovasc Interv 2011; 78 (02) 179-186
16 Haneef Z, Chiang S, Rutherford HC, Antony AR. A survey of neurophysiology fellows in the United States. J Clin Neurophysiol 2017; 34 (02) 179-186
17 Brown DW, Allan CK, Newburger JW. Training fellows in paediatric cardiology: the Harvard experience. Cardiol Young 2016; 26 (08) 1499-1506
18 Moodie D. Pediatric cardiology fellow education - two important components. Congenit Heart Dis 2016; 11 (02) 101
19 Dasgupta S, Dave I, McCracken CE, Mohl L, Sachdeva R, Border W. Burnout and work life balance among pediatric cardiologists: A single center experience. Congenit Heart Dis 2019; 14 (03) 350-355
20 Saini A. Work-life balance: keep the cycle moving - find a purpose, set priorities, and manage time well then reassess and reset. Front Pediatr 2016; 3: 118
21 MB-Monitor (2017). Available at: www.marburger-bund.de/sites/default/files/files/2018-09/gesamtauswertung-mb-monitor-2017-presse-pk-website.pdf . Accessed May 27, 2017

Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material