Supervising Committee

Specialist Advisory Committee in Cardiology (SAC).

Definition of Specialty

Cardiology is a branch of internal medicine concerned with prevention, investigation and therapy of and research into diseases involving the cardiovascular system.

General Principles

1. The aim of the program is to produce in a minimum of three years' advanced training, competent physicians trained in clinical cardiology who are capable of recognising a patient's essential problem and able either to address that problem themselves or to direct the patient to another appropriate person. Successful completion of this broad prescription allows a diverse approach to the award of the FRACP and is not intended to guarantee competence as an independent operator across the range of specialised procedures such as transoesophageal echocardiography, stress echocardiography, coronary angiography, coronary angioplasty, diagnostic and therapeutic electrophysiology, implantation of permanent pacemaker electrodes and generators and implantable defibrillators, congenital heart disease in adults and children or medical aspects of cardiac transplantation.
2. At least two years' experience in clinical cardiovascular medicine is required.
3. At least one year of cardiology training should normally be undertaken in Australia or New Zealand.
4. Trainees are required to become conversant with all diagnostic procedures available - with their strengths, limitations and appropriate application, with the relevant literature and with research activities in the cardiovascular field. They are not expected to become expert in all branches of cardiology or in all invasive or non-invasive techniques.
5. It is desirable that training be undertaken at more than one institution to enable trainees to acquire a sufficient breadth of experience.
6. At least six months should be in an institution that performs adult cardiac surgery and PTCA in order to gain experience in indications for these procedures, appropriate patient selection, familiarity with these interventions and post intervention care including complications, their diagnosis and management. This includes the place of postoperative echocardiography.
7. Knowledge of electrophysiology, radiofrequency ablation techniques and their application must be obtained. This should ideally be in an institution that uses these diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.
8. If the trainee is not working primarily in an institution in which adult cardiac surgery and electrophysiology and ablation are undertaken, programs and reports must indicate, with supervisory endorsement, how this experience has been gained.
9. Advanced trainees transferring to the SAC in Cardiology, or those with the FRACP wishing to undertake post-FRACP training in cardiology, will need at least two years of additional supervised and accredited training in core cardiology and optional cardiology (defined below). The amount of training additional to this will be determined by the amount cross accredited from other disciplines.
10. Approved training programs may be carried out in appropriate public or private hospitals.
11. Any training undertaken during the year in which trainees sit and pass the examination will be regarded as elective (subject to the usual conditions - see generic guidelines).

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