Creating a Cardio-Obstetrics Elective as a Fellow in Training

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  Visual Summary. Article Summary and Take-Home Messages Rates of maternal mortality are high in the United States compared with similar countries, and CVD remains a major contributor. Cardio-obstetrics provides expertise to tackle this need, but formal education is generally lacking. Fellows in training can create their own educational pathways and electives in a multidisciplinary fashion to address this gap. CVD = cardiovascular disease; FIT = fellow in training; US = United States.

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  Figure 1. Initial and Future Iterations of the Cardio-Obstetrics Elective The initial iteration of the cardio-obstetrics elective included adult congenital heart disease, maternal-fetal medicine, postpartum cardiovascular health program, and obstetric anesthesiology. Future iterations can consider the addition of aortopathy, hypertensive cardiomyopathy, spontaneous coronary artery dissection, and advanced heart failure clinics.

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  Figure 2. Strategies for Cardiovascular Fellows-in-Training to Bolster Cardio-Obstetrics Educational Opportunities During Their General Cardiology Fellowship During the first year, fellows will focus on building relationships and creating a strong foundation in their general cardiology knowledge base. During their second year, fellows will seek out pregnancy cases for presentations, conferences, and in their clinical work, making sure to log these cases as they go. They will also join multidisciplinary discussions regarding high-risk pregnancies in patients with cardiac disease if this is available. Lastly, in their third year, fellows will lean on their relationships to create a novel elective, and write case reports and scholarly work for publication. OB = obstetrics; ICU = intensive care unit.