Welcome to the Advanced Echocardiography Fellowship at McMaster University. We are an accredited program with the Royal College of Physicians Surgeons of Canada (Area of Focused Competence) and successful applicants are eligible to receive a Diplomate certificate from RCPSC. During our comprehensive 12 month training, the successful applicant will achieve Level III competence in Echocardiography.
This is a structured 12-month fellowship program designed to provide all aspects of echocardiography training. The combination of high volume of cases, diverse pathology, dedicated staff, and structured teaching provide unparalleled learning environment.
The successful completion of the fellowship will grant a Fellowship McMaster Certification. The successful candidate is also eligible to receive Diplomate certificate from RCPSC (separate application process and fees apply).
Current entry requirements are as follows:
Deadline for receipt of all material is Feb 15th the year before the start date (eg for July 1, 2022, application deadline is Feb 15th, 2021).
After completion the trainee will achieve level III competence in echocardiography.
This is a 12-month (consecutive) training program.
There are two streams for applicants:
A high volume of cases is seen daily across three of our academic sites. Trainees will spend ~6 months at the Hamilton General Hospital site, 5 months at the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre site, and 1 month at the McMaster University Medical Centre site. Each of these echo labs will have a different patient population and hence exposure is enhanced across the training. There will also be a 1-month rotation in the cardiac operating rooms and the cath lab (structural heart disease) at the Hamilton General Hospital. The trainee will get a hands-on approach to intraoperative and intraprocedural evaluations and will work with cardiac anesthesiologists as well as experts in imaging within the structural heart disease program. During the 12 months, the trainee will surpass the requirements for level III certification in all areas (TTE interpretation, TEE performance, Stress echocardiography, and contrast echocardiography).
Trainees will have formal assessments on a quarterly basis. This incudes ITERs as well as formal review and approval of procedure logs by the program director. There will also be a formal review meeting wioth the program director on a quarterly basis. There will also be 2 examinations during the year. These do not count towards a final “grade” however they do provide the trainee with areas of weakness that require additional attention.