Recruiting Internal Medicine Residents (Cardiovascular Medicine)

At Kitano Hospital's Heart Center, the Cardiology Department, Cardiovascular Surgery Department, Cardiac Rehabilitation Department, and Pediatric Cardiology Department work together to respond to all cardiovascular diseases and provide comprehensive treatment with a focus on advanced medical care.
"We can do it all." This means that we provide care for patients from emergencies to chronic conditions and prevention, including those with many complications, through teamwork between cardiologists, arrhythmia specialists, cardiovascular surgeons, nurses, clinical engineers, physical therapists, radiologists, and nutritionists, in cooperation with staff from other departments.
Through our advanced training program, you will not only gain a wide range of knowledge and skills in cardiovascular diseases, but also gain more than enough experience and knowledge to become an internal medicine specialist.
Please come and take your first step as a cardiologist at Kitano Hospital.

Chief of Cardiology, Heart Center
Inoko Moriaki

About the Internal Medicine Resident Recruitment Page

Overview of the Internal Medicine Resident (Cardiovascular Medicine) Training Program

1. Basic philosophy

Cardiology and arrhythmia treatment often involve severe, emergency cases, and rapid initial response determines the success of treatment. During advanced training in cardiology, students will experience numerous invasive procedures and surgeries, including cardiac catheterization, PCI, pacemaker implantation, and catheter ablation. They must master the ability to determine the appropriateness of life-saving procedures and the skills to perform them quickly and safely. Mastering the general knowledge of internal medicine and intensive care necessary for treating critically ill patients is also an important goal. Many cardiovascular disease treatments require the involvement of multiple physicians and co-medical professionals, necessitating smooth teamwork. One of the goals of advanced training is to develop leadership skills that enable teamwork with co-medical professionals, including nurses, clinical technologists, radiologists, clinical engineers, and physical therapists, to provide prompt, high-quality medical care to patients. In addition to acute care, identifying and addressing risk factors as part of primary and secondary prevention efforts is also an important goal. Cardiovascular diseases often present with complaints that cannot be quantified, such as chest pain and shortness of breath, so it is important to approach the patient with compassion and empathy. It is also important not to be satisfied with acquiring basic knowledge and skills, but to take the initiative and persevere in striving to reach even higher levels.

2. Guidance system

At Kitano Hospital's Heart Center, the Cardiology Department and the Arrhythmia Department work as a single team. Residents treat patients under the supervision of supervising physicians in the Cardiology Department and the Arrhythmia Department. They conduct their own assessments, develop treatment plans, and provide care with the supervising physician's approval. Residents acquire the skills for invasive examinations and treatments under the supervision of the supervising physician.

3. Goal

Regarding ischemic heart disease, arrhythmia, heart failure, arteriosclerosis obliterans, pulmonary embolism, aortic dissection, aortic aneurysm, deep vein thrombosis, etc.

1. Ability to develop a treatment plan based on medical history, physical examination, and test results.
2. To enable appropriate initial medical treatment in an emergency.
3. Master echocardiography, exercise stress testing, and drug stress testing.
4. To be able to learn basic catheterization techniques and perform them independently.
5. Experience with catheter-based treatment procedures and pacemaker implantation procedures, and be able to perform these procedures to a certain extent.
6. In cases where surgery is appropriate, it is possible to participate in surgery together with cardiovascular surgeons and gain experience in postoperative management.

4. Training Schedule

1. Every morning at 8:30, the HCU rounds and morning conference are held. Everyone in the cardiac center, including the cardiac surgeons, attends to discuss the previous day's admissions, presentations of critically ill patients, the previous day's surgeries, and catheterization test reports, and to discuss treatment policies.
2. The department manager's rounds take place every Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. for approximately two hours.
3. The cardiovascular conference is held every Tuesday from 6:30 p.m.
4. The Internal Medicine Clinical Conference (CPC at the end of the month) is held every Thursday from 6:00 p.m.
5. The echocardiogram conference is held every Tuesday from 5:00 p.m.
6. Cardiac catheterization is performed every day, echocardiography is performed every day from Monday to Saturday, RI is performed on Monday and Thursday mornings, treadmill testing is performed every afternoon from Monday to Friday, and CPX is performed on Monday mornings.
7. Cardiac rehabilitation and heart failure conferences are held every Monday.
8. The outpatient clinic is open two times a day (three times on Fridays and one time on Saturdays).

5. Evaluation Method

Instructors will evaluate the experience and skills required as an internal medicine specialist and cardiologist using evaluation systems designated by academic societies, such as the Resident Registration Evaluation System. In addition, technical and communication skills will be evaluated at the end of training using a format separately determined by our hospital.

Characteristics of the Internal Medicine Resident (Cardiovascular Medicine) Training Program

Features

• This cardiac center, which combines the departments of cardiology, arrhythmia, cardiovascular surgery, and pediatric cardiology, provides a consistent range of care, from emergency care to acute treatment in the HCU, followed by chronic treatment including cardiac rehabilitation, and post-discharge community medical care to improve prognosis and quality of life.We believe that this system is not only medical care for patients, but also an important point in training.
• We treat all cardiovascular diseases, including ischemic heart disease, cardiomyopathy, valvular heart disease, congenital heart disease, arrhythmia, aortic and peripheral arterial disease.
• Regarding arrhythmia treatment, we provide comprehensive management including ablation treatment for refractory arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia, ICD/CRT-D implantation, and genetic diagnosis.
• Heart failure treatment requires advanced multidisciplinary treatment for myocardial ischemia, arrhythmia, and valvular disease, and students will acquire the ability to formulate diagnostic and treatment strategies through experiencing many cases. Furthermore, students will learn about the introduction of social resources to prevent deterioration after discharge, regional medical cooperation, and patient education.
• We are involved in advanced medical treatments, including advanced and regenerative medicine, and as a medical research institute, we are committed to cardiovascular research. We also provide residents with opportunities to present their research results at domestic and international conferences, and provide guidance on writing research papers.
• The goal for the first year is to gain experience with the cases necessary to obtain a specialist license in internal medicine, and within three years, the goal is to achieve not only A and B but also some C in the cardiology specialist training curriculum.

Weekly Schedule

Note: (2021)
[Hospitalized patients] 1,272 people per year
[Examination] Cardiac catheterization: 1,073 cases
[Surgery] PCI 277 cases, peripheral artery PTA 106 cases, ablation 116 cases, pacemaker implantation 82 cases, ICD implantation 7 cases, CRT-D implantation 15 cases, CRT-P implantation 7 cases

overview

Training manager name

Moriaki Inoko, Chief of Cardiology, Heart Center

Number of beds

38 beds

Number of doctors

14 people

Number of training instructors

10 people

Number of medical residents

4 people

Major universities from which medical residents (postgraduate trainees) graduate

Kyoto University, Kobe University, Osaka University, Wakayama Medical University, Nara Medical University, Kinki University, Osaka Medical College, Osaka City University, Tokushima University, Hokkaido University, University of Fukui, Fukushima Medical University, etc.

Career paths after completing the training (career paths of past graduates)

1. Our hospital staff (depending on personnel situation)
2. Advancement to graduate schools such as Kyoto University and Kobe University
3. Assignment to other medical institutions (National Cardiovascular Center, Tokyo Metropolitan Hiroo Hospital, Wakayama Red Cross Medical Center, National Osaka Minami Medical Center, etc.)
4. Study abroad (Columbia University in the US (planned)), etc.