Pediatric Cardiology

Pediatric Cardiology -  PEDIAT 943

Welcome to Pediatric Cardiology!

We are so happy that you are choosing to learn more about the Pediatric Cardiology elective!

During your time with us, you should learn to:

  1. Perform a complete cardiology focused physical exam.
  2. Be able to give a detailed description of cardiac heart sounds, timing and quality of murmur, etc.
  3. Become confident assessing femoral pulses in all pediatric age ranges.
  4. Recognize different systolic and diastolic cardiac murmurs.
  5. Understand the difference between benign and pathologic murmurs.
  6. Be able to describe common murmurs (benign flow murmurs, VSD, PPS, PDA, aortic stenosis, pulmonary stenosis, etc), timing of presentation and clinical course.
  7. Understand important history taking and evaluation for chest pain and when chest pain in pediatrics is more concerning for a cardiac etiology versus non-cardiac etiology.
  8. Understand important history taking and evaluation for syncope and when etiology may be more likely due to abnormal cardiac cause versus non-cardiac cause.
  9. Understand how to determine normal blood pressure versus elevated BP in pediatric patients.
  10. Become familiar with universal lipid screening in pediatric patients.
  11. Understand that there are some congenital heart disease associations with higher likelihood of genetic transmission and when a child should be referred for pediatric cardiology evaluation based on family history. Examples: cardiomyopathy, bicuspid aortic valve, connective tissue disorders.
  12. Know common cardiac associations with certain genetic diagnoses. Examples: Marfan, Ehlers Danlos, Loeys Dietz, Turner, Trisomy 21/13/18, Williams.
  13. Become familiar with common presenting signs and symptoms of Kawasaki disease, endocarditis (modified Duke criteria), rheumatic fever/heart disease (Jones criteria), as well as, initial treatment options and short- and long-term outcomes.



Margaret M. Greco, MD

Course Director

Margaret Greco, MD

Division Coordinator

Riley Fink

 


Where to go on the first day:

  • On your first day, come to the team room AFCH 2335 in the cow hallway.
  • Morning clinic typically starts at 8:30 am

What to bring:

  • ID badge
  • Stethoscope
  • Any favorite references (see suggestions below)

People to Know

  1. General Rotation Questions: Tori Benson, tlbenson3@wisc.edu
  2. Pediatric Cardiology Specific Questions: cardiology administrator, Haley Stappert, stappert@wisc.edu or attending cardiologist, Margaret Greco mmgreco@wisc.edu 
  3. Inpatient Team: Karie Canada NP pager 4616, kcanada@uwhealth.org; Bridget Lucas, pager 5401, blucas2@uwhealth.org; and cardiology attending of the week
  4. The rest of the cardiology team you will meet during your rotation.

Expectations

  1. Make a list of 3-5 personal educational goals at the beginning of the rotation and plan of how you’re going to accomplish them. If you aren’t sure, please ask!
  2. Share your educational goals with the pediatric cardiology inpatient and outpatient clinic providers to ensure your goals are met.
  3. Attend inpatient pediatric cardiology rounds and see inpatients with the team in the AM. Rounds generally start at 8:30, but contact the pediatric cardiology inpatient NPs at 8am on the first day of your rotation to confirm.
  4. Attend outpatient pediatric cardiology clinic in the PM. Students should read up on patients prior to seeing them in clinic.  Discuss with the clinic provider goals and expectations that day of clinic as some clinics have varying flow and note template requirements.
  5. See an electrophysiology (EP) and cardiac cath case during their rotation. The schedule varies with need so discuss availability at the beginning of the rotation to determine the schedule.
  6. Attend cardiology conferences: surgery conference, educational conference, CVICU conference, other variable lectures (information for each conference should be sent at least 1-2 days prior to the meeting from the cardiology administrators).
  7. Ask questions, get involved, learn and have fun!

Educational Opportunities

Peds Cardiology schedule.JPG

See https://pediatrics.wisc.edu for current Grand Rounds schedule

  1. Inpatient Rounds/Consults (Morning)
    • Page Inpatient Pediatric Cardiology NPs at 8AM on the first day of your rotation to determine meeting time and location (check paging to determine which NP is available)
    • Rounds generally start at 8:30 AM
    • Follow at least 1 or 2 patients to know all the specific details of their hospital course (cardiac diagnosis, surgeries, trends in vitals, lab results, clinical course, etc)
    • Review telemetry (we will show you how to do this)
    • Review medications on your patients (know cardiac side effects, mechanism of action, potential side effects, etc)
    • May present to cardiology attending (currently students do not present during rounds)
    • Examine inpatient pediatric cardiology patients
    • Participate in consults as available
  2. Clinic (Afternoon)
    • See patients in clinic, present to provider
    • For most up to date schedule, check HealthLink (Dept = “AFCH CARDIO”)
    • Make sure to read about your patients prior to seeing them
    • Discuss clinic goals and expectations that day of clinic as some have varying flow and note templates
  3. Other Clinical Opportunities
    • Cath/EP
    • ECG
    • Exercise stress test
    • Echo/Fetal Echo
  4. Conferences
    • Cardiology Echo Imaging Conference (Tuesdays from 2-3 PM )
    • Cardiology PAC Conference (Tuesdays from 3-4 PM)
    • Congenital cardiology education conference (Wed AM)
    • CVICU conference (Thurs PM)
    • Cardiothoracic surgical conference (Fri AM)
    • Pediatric Grand Rounds (Thurs AM)
    • Resident PEARL conference (Fri PM)
  5.  Lectures
    • Variable scheduled cardiology topics
    • Other ad hoc lectures during outpatient and inpatient experiences

Educational Resources

  1. MedHub, pediatrics residency website – useful articles and schedule of educational sessions
  2. There are some textbooks available in the team room at AFCH.
  3. A nice textbook if you are looking for your own general pediatric cardiology is “Park’s Pediatric Cardiology for Practitioners” by Myung Park.

Feedback

  1. Mid-rotation feedback during week 3 of rotation (arranged by cardiology administrator)
  2. End of rotation feedback during last week of rotation (arranged by cardiology administrator)