Ten Commandments for EP Fellows

Dear Readers,

As a service to all incoming clinical electrophysiology fellows starting around the country July 1st, 2011, the following “Ten Commandments” are offered as a guide to optimize the training experience:

Be a Good Doctor
#1: Take care of your patients, and take responsibility for your patients. Provide as much continuity of care as possible, follow up with every hospitalized patient on whom you have performed a procedure, and have a plan every morning until discharge.

Be a Good Student
#2: Learn as much as possible during this finale of formal medical education. Learn from peers, attendings, educational courses, and journals. Every case is a learning opportunity. Involve yourself in cases in the EP lab even when you are not the primary fellow.

Be a Good Teacher
#3: Educate and share interesting and instructive cases with peers, general cardiology fellows, residents, students, nurses, and EP lab technicians.

Be a Good Fellow
#4: Pursue and participate in research projects, review articles, book chapters, and case reports.

#5: Work as a team with your co-fellows to manage the daily EP fellow clinical and call schedules to ensure that all clinical duties are covered.

#6: Before leaving the hospital every day, assign a fellow to each case on the next day’s EP lab schedule, indicate the assigned fellow on the schedule, review the case the night before the procedure, and ensure that all pre-procedural labs and tests have been reviewed or arranged. You will be expected to be fully informed about every patient on whom you perform a procedure. Make sure inpatients are consented, and have preoperative orders are in place.

#7: Work with EP lab staff to help set up the EP lab recording and advanced mapping systems before each procedure. Participate in selection of catheters and sheaths, and in preparation of the patient.

#8: Communicate and be available. Have a plan for returning pages during procedures and respond to emails within 24 hours.

#9: Complete EP procedure and operative notes within 24 hours.

#10: Be responsive and helpful to EP consult service team members, outpatient clinic nurses, and the device clinic.

These guidelines have stood the test of time, are in compliance with the Hippocratic Oath, the latest ACGME work hour rules, AdvaMed guidelines, and HIPAA.