Key presentations and conditions
Basic Trainees will have a comprehensive depth of knowledge of these presentations and conditions.
Presentations
- Breathlessness
- Chest pain
- Cyanosis:
- cyanotic neonate and infant with hypercyanotic spells
- intermittent or apparent cyanosis
- peripheral cyanosis
- Hypotension and shock:
- anaphylactic
- cardiogenic
- hypovolaemic
- neurogenic
- septic
- Palpitations
- Poor growth in infants
- Syncope
Conditions
- Arrhythmias and rhythm disorders, such as inherited arrhythmia disorders
- Congenital heart disease:
- atrial septal defect (ASD)
- patent ductus arteriosus (PDA)
- ventricular septal defect (VSD)
- Duct dependent lesions in the neonate
- Heart failure
- Infective endocarditis
- Innocent murmurs
- Kawasaki disease
- Rheumatic fever
For each presentation and condition, Basic Trainees will know how to:
Synthesise
- recognise the clinical presentation
- identify relevant epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical science
- take a relevant clinical history
- conduct an appropriate examination
- establish a differential diagnosis
- plan and arrange appropriate investigations
- consider the impact of illness and disease on patients1 and their quality of life
Manage
- provide evidence-based management
For less common or more complex presentations and conditions the trainee must also seek expert opinions - 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
Less common or more complex presentations and conditions
Basic Trainees will understand these presentations and conditions. Basic Trainees will understand the resources that should be used to help manage patients with these presentations and conditions.
Presentations
- Cardiac complications of cytotoxic treatments
Conditions
- Cardiomyopathies, including familial cardiomyopathies
- Cardiovascular manifestations of systemic, chronic, and metabolic disease, such as:
- common chromosomal syndromes, such as Trisomy 21, Turner, Noonan, 22q11 deletion, Williams, VACTERL, and CHARGE
- Marfan syndrome
- muscular dystrophy and related myopathies
- Congenital heart disease, such as:
- aortic valve sclerosis
- coarctation
- Ebstein anomaly
- pulmonary stenosis
- tetralogy of Fallot (TOF)
- transposition of the great arteries
- Hypertension and pulmonary hypertension
- Myocarditis and pericarditis
- Valvular heart disease, such as aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation
For each presentation and condition, Basic Trainees will know how to:
Synthesise
- recognise the clinical presentation
- identify relevant epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical science
- take a relevant clinical history
- conduct an appropriate examination
- establish a differential diagnosis
- plan and arrange appropriate investigations
- consider the impact of illness and disease on patients1 and their quality of life
Manage
- provide evidence-based management
For less common or more complex presentations and conditions the trainee must also seek expert opinions - 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
Epidemiology, pathophysiology and clinical sciences
Basic Trainees will describe the principles of the foundational sciences.
- Blood pressure homeostasis and circulatory control, including splanchnic, macro- and microvascular, pulmonary, and cerebral circulation
- Cardiovascular structure and function, such as:
- cardiac cycle
- cardiac output
- conduction
- Embryology, anatomy, and physiology of the cardiovascular system
- Fetal circulation and haemodynamic changes after birth
- Pharmacology of major drug classes used, such as:
- antiarrhythmics
- antihypertensives
- inotropes
Investigations, procedures and clinical assessment tools
Basic Trainees will know the indications for, and how to interpret the results of these investigations, procedures, and clinical assessments tools. Basic Trainees will know how to explain the investigation, procedure, or clinical assessment tool to patients, families, and carers.
Investigations
- Chest x-ray
- Echocardiography
- Electrocardiography
- Exercise testing
- Holter monitoring
- Nuclear and cross-sectional imaging
Procedures
- Cardiac catheterisation
Important specific issues
Basic Trainees will identify important specialty-specific issues and the impact of these on diagnosis and management.
- Incidence of, and the risk factors for, cardiovascular disease in individuals and patient groups, such as:
- Māori and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- patients with comorbidities
- patients with risk factors for atherosclerotic vascular disease
- Recognition of non-cardiac conditions presenting as possible cardiac conditions, such as chest pain and cyanosis
- References to patients in the remainder of this document may include their families or carers.