Future cardiologists travelled to Lincolnshire to put their skills to the test

Doctors in higher training wanting to become cardiologists of the future travelled from across the region to Lincoln County Hospital to use high-tech simulators to put their skills to the test.

Twelve doctors attended the one-day training session in the hospital’s Medical Education Centre, organised as part of a new series of LINC (Lincolnshire Invasive Cardiology) training courses.

The course was organised by Consultant Cardiologist, Professor David O’Brien, and facilitated by a faculty of experts who have all but one trained at the Lincolnshire Heart Centre during their careers.

Professor O’Brien is Professor of Medical Education at the School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, and is also Vice-Dean at the Lincoln Medical School. He has worked as an Interventional Cardiologist at United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (ULTH) for 16 years where he was former Clinical Director for Cardiology, opening the Lincolnshire Heart Centre in 2013.

Professor O’Brien said: “LINC was a concept borne out of a need to fill a current gap for doctors in higher training wanting to become cardiologists of the future. Coming to a speciality clinical environment like invasive cardiology can feel very daunting for doctors without any prior experience in this area, and what better way to help them develop their skills in a safe and supportive setting than by using high-fidelity simulation courses.

“I worked hard to pull together a faculty from across the region, not just highly experienced and enthusiastic experts in the field, but as it happens, all trained through our own Lincolnshire Heart Centre over the years.  The only exception to this being Dr Alun Harcombe, a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) who in fact trained me almost 20 years ago, having subsequently then trained the majority of the other faculty members over an illustrious career.

“Dr Mohamed Eltayeb is our current Interventional Cardiology Fellow who will hopefully shortly be to taking up a consultant post himself. Dr Saqib Siddiqui is an Interventional Cardiology Trainee who has just returned to Nottingham after his period of training with us at the Lincolnshire Heart Centre.”

This first course focussed on invasive coronary angiography. This is a procedure used to check blood vessels and blood flow within the heart using special thin tubes inserted into the heart called ‘catheters’ and is guided by X-rays. It allows doctors to proceed to treat any narrowing seen with balloons and stents if this is required.

The project was only possible thanks to very generous educational support from industry partners, in particular Vascular Perspectives. As well as providing much of the logistical support for the course, including access to online reading material and technical staff to support of the day, they also provided almost half a million pounds worth of simulation equipment. The two Mentice simulators were loaned and installed in the Medical Education Centre for the day. The team were also kindly supported by Terumo who provided staff and equipment to train on various aspects of vascular access.

All of this support enabled the team to provide the course completely free of charge for the attendees.

Consultant Cardiologist, Dr Akhlaque Uddin, is a former trainee at the Lincolnshire Heart Centre and travelled back to Lincoln for the day. He said: “The feedback from everyone was excellent and all the attendees stated they would recommend the course to a colleague. I have been a cardiologist now for several years after training here. I wish I had had the opportunity to use simulators when I first started. It is a great way to gain experience and learn. It is brilliant to be able to have this training before treating and caring for our patients.”

Professor O’Brien added: “We plan to take this course forward to develop more in the LINC series, maybe around aspects of coronary artery intervention or cardiac device implantation.

“With a regional hands-on CT training course planned later this year, it would seem like ULTH cardiology are leading the way in medical education, a topic very important to me in my current role. I would finally like to take the opportunity to thank the staff in the Education Centre for their support in this venture.”