Presentations
- Typical and atypical presentations
Conditions
- Cardiac complications of:
- autoimmune disease
- chronic kidney disease and accelerated atherosclerotic disease in dialysis
- chronic liver disease and portopulmonary hypertension
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- connective tissue disorders
- dementia
- diabetes and complex coronary artery disease
- untreated sleep apnoea
For each presentation and condition, Advanced Trainees will know how to:
Synthesise
- recognise the clinical presentation
- identify relevant epidemiology, prevalence, pathophysiology, and clinical science
- take a comprehensive clinical history
- conduct an appropriate examination
- establish a differential diagnosis
- plan and arrange appropriate investigations
- consider the impact of illness and disease on patients and their quality of life when developing a management plan
Manage
- provide evidence-based management
- prescribe therapies tailored to patients' needs and conditions
- recognise potential complications of disease and its management, and initiate preventative strategies
- involve multidisciplinary teams
Consider other factors
- identify individual and social factors and the impact of these on diagnosis and management
- Shared common risk factors between cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease
- Sleep disorders:
- » describe the cardiovascular manifestations of sleep apnoea
- » explain how sleep disorders affect cardiovascular diseases
- Syncope and pre-syncope:
- differentiate between cardiological and non-cardiological causes of syncope
- identify causes of syncope and pre-syncope
- outline a risk profile of a patient with syncope
- The ageing population and impact of comorbidities on long-term cardiovascular care
Investigations and procedures
- Blood tests, including plasma markers and markers of perfusion (renal/hepatic)
- Cardiac catheterisation
- Cardiac CT
- Cardiac MRI
- Chest x-ray
- Electrocardiogram (ECG)
- Echocardiogram, including stress, transoesophageal (TOE), transthoracic (TTE), especially evaluation of systolic and diastolic function
- Genetic testing
Cardiac conditions in older people
- Demonstrate understanding of individualised patients' preferences,
goals of therapy, and comorbidities, to guide utility of further
investigations and management options
- Demonstrate understanding of the benefits of multidisciplinary teams
encompassing geriatric specialists, allied health, and palliative care
specialists, in managing chronic conditions
Genetic cardiology
- Demonstrate understanding of rationale, yield, complexities,
and implications of genetic screening in patients with inherited
cardiovascular conditions (e.g. Brugada syndrome, catecholaminergic
polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, familial hypercholesterolaemia,
hypertrophic/ dilated/ arrhythmogenic/ familial cardiomyopathies,
long-QT syndrome)
Nephrology
- Acute kidney injury resulting from cardiac surgery
- The correlation between and risks of developing kidney disease
in patients with cardiovascular disease
- The contribution of chronic kidney disease to a reduced cardiac
function and/or an increased risk for cardiovascular events
Oncology
- Oncology (e.g. atherosclerotic disease, cancer survivorship,
complications of chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy)
Patients with cardiovascular disease undertaking non-cardiac surgery
- Be able to assess perioperative cardiovascular risk
- Describe indications for and principles of antibiotic prophylaxis
against infective endocarditis
- Describe the effects of common anaesthetic agents upon
cardiovascular function
- Describe the issues for patients with devices, such as pacemakers
and ICDs, undergoing non cardiac surgery
- Explain the need for cardiac follow-up after surgery
- Identify preoperative cardiovascular pharmacological interventions
in patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery
- Identify relevant preoperative cardiac investigations
Rheumatology
- Cardiovascular adverse effects of the drugs widely used in the
treatment of rheumatic diseases
- The increased risk of developing coronary artery disease in patients
with rheumatoid arthritis
- Understand cardiac complications of rheumatological conditions
(e.g. autoimmune disease [SLE], connective tissue disease
[schleroderma], rheum arthritis)
