At the Dallas VA medical Center, the CCU occupies 16 beds and serves approximately 1,300 patients annually. A procedure room located within the CCU is used for more than 600 invasive procedures annually, including right heart catheterizations, temporary and permanent pacemaker insertions, and pericardiocentesis. Fellows on the noninvasive rotation are assisted by skilled technicians and supervised by faculty members with a goal of attaining proficiency in the performance, interpretation, and clinical application of these procedures. The Cardiac Catheterization Service at Parkland Memorial Hospital currently performs 1,000 procedures annually, of which 150 to 200 are interventional procedures. About 65 percent of patients present with coronary artery disease, while the remainder have primary myocardial, valvular, or congenital heart disease.
Fellows serve as the primary operators on all cases, with faculty supervision.
At least one to two hours daily are devoted to a didactic session in which cases are discussed in depth by faculty and fellows. The Clinical Electrophysiology Service cares for patients with cardiac rhythm disturbances at both the VA Medical Center and Parkland Memorial Hospital where full-time faculty actively participate in all aspects of clinical electrophysiology, including ablation of supraventricular and ventricular tachycardias and implantation of cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators. Cardiology fellows spend two months of their core curriculum on the electrophysiology service, one month at each hospital. Fellows with plans to specialize in clinical cardiac electrophysiology spend two full years training in clinical and research electrophysiology. Active consult services at each of the three teaching hospitals permit trainees to be involved in the care of patients with an extraordinary diversity of cardiovascular diseases.