The area of focused competence (AFC) program in interventional cardiology at McMaster University is a two-year training program that is accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC). The mission of the program is to train future leaders in the field of Interventional Cardiology.
The McMaster interventional cardiology group performs 8,000 procedures per year including approximately 3,000 percutaneous coronary intervention and 800 interventions for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. It is one of the highest volume programs in North America and offers the full range of interventional services, including complex and high-risk PCI, chronic total occlusion PCI, septal ablation for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, percutaneous hemodynamic support, intracoronary physiology assessment, basic and advanced intracoronary imaging, evaluation and treatment of pulmonary hypertension and percutaneous aortic, mitral and tricuspid valve intervention. McMaster is recognized as the leading centre in Canada for optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging.
Approximately 5-8 Canadian and international trainees are enrolled in the program. Over the course of the program, fellows will be trained to become fully competent practitioners in all aspects of the discipline of interventional cardiology. The fellows will also have the ability to focus on specific areas, including CT coronary angiography, intracoronary imaging, mitral/tricuspid or aortic percutaneous intervention, chronic total occlusion PCI or clinical research. There is a possibility of an additional year of training in each of these areas.
All fellows have the option of enrolling in the Health Research Methodology program at McMaster with an interventional cardiology faculty member serving as their academic supervisor. Acceptance into this program is on a competitive basis.
The successful completion of the fellowship will grant a Fellowship McMaster Certification and an Area of Focused Competence diploma from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
The fellowship program is designed for current residents or recent graduates of a recognized Canadian or international general cardiology residency program or equivalent. Recent graduates are required to submit an application form and comply with McMaster University Postgraduate Medical Education requirements for residents and fellows.
May 1st of the year prior to starting date (i.e., 14 months prior to a July 1st start date)
Last day for accepting applications:
Rolling, until positions filled
The goals of the program are to:
2 years
In general, 2 trainees will be supported by internal fellowship funds at McMaster University. These positions are competitive. All other positions will be filled by candidates who have funding already secured from their home institution, country or external funding agency. Documentation of funding is mandatory for all trainees prior to commencing the program.
The 24-month training program is divided into 4-week blocks (1 block = 4 weeks).
The total is 26 blocks.
The assessment will involve a combination of direct workplace-based assessment & in-training evaluation of performance in the cath lab and CT. A case logbook must be submitted, reviewed and signed off by the program committee for fellowship completion.