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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2008.10.031 Byline: Alex J. Auseon, Sunil S. Advani, Charles A. Bush, Subha V. Raman Keywords: Cardiac catheterization; Clinical cardiology; Computed tomography; Coronary artery disease; Percutaneous coronary intervention; Stress testing Abstract: The clinical role of cardiovascular multidetector computed tomography (CT) remains in evolution, and application varies widely. Understanding its impact on the utilization of other cardiovascular diagnostic modalities could help define best practices. Author Affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus Article Note: (footnote) Funding: None., Conflicts of Interest: None., Authorship: All authors had access to the data and played a role in writing this manuscript.

Researchers conducted a study to determine patterns of elevated blood pressure behavior, their clinical correlates, and the relationship to diagnosis and management of hypertension. Their study revealed that the diagnosis of hypertension in older persons could benefit from multiple, within-day measures, which includes postural BP, taken before and after every meal.

ABSTRACTBackground Cardiology fellowship programs are at the interface of medical education and the care of patients suffering from the leading cause of mortality in the United States, yet there is an apparent lack of research guiding the effective education of fellows.Objective We sought to quantify the number of publications in cardiology journals that pertained to the education of cardiology trainees and the number of cardiologists participating in education research.Methods For the period between January and December 2012, we cataloged cardiology-specific and general medical/medical education journals and sorted them by impact factor. Tables of content were reviewed for articles with an educational focus, a cardiology focus, or both. We recorded the authors' areas of medical training, and keywords from each cardiology journal's mission statement were reviewed for emphasis on education.Results Twenty-six cardiology journals, containing 6645 articles, were reviewed. Only 4 articles had education themes. Ten general medical and 15 medical education journals contained 6810 articles. Of these, only 7 focused on medical education in cardiology, and none focused on cardiology fellowship training. Among the 4887 authors of publications in medical education journals, 25 were cardiologists (less than 1), and among the 1036 total words in the mission statements of all cardiology journals, the term “education” appeared once.Conclusions Published educational research is lacking in cardiology training, and few cardiologists appear to be active members of the education scholarship community. Cardiology organizations and academic journals should support efforts to identify target areas of study and publish scholarship in educational innovation.

AbstractBackgroundA large volume of literature has documented racial disparities in the delivery of cardiovascular care in the United States and that decreased access to procedures and undertreatment lead to worse outcomes. A lack of diversity among physicians is considered to be a major contributor. The fellowship training program in cardiovascular medicine at The Ohio State University Medical Center had never trained a fellow from a minority group underrepresented in medicine (URM) before 2007.InterventionIn 2005, the fellowship made it a priority to recruit and match URM candidates in an effort to address the community's lack of diversity and disparities in cardiovascular care.MethodsProgram leaders revised the recruitment process, making diversity a high priority. Faculty met with members of diverse residency programs during visits to other institutions, the focus of interview day was changed to highlight mentorship, additional targeted postinterview communications reached out to highly competitive applicants, and a regular mentoring program was constructed to allow meaningful interaction with URM faculty and fellows.ResultsSince these changes were implemented, the program has successfully matched a URM fellow for 5 consecutive years. Such candidates currently make up 4 of 16 total trainees (25) in the fellowship in cardiovascular medicine.ConclusionsThe cardiovascular medicine fellowship training program at The Ohio State University was able to revise recruitment to attract competitive URM applicants as part of a concerted effort. Other educational programs facing similar challenges may be able to learn from the university's experiences.