Board Certification Question

[Jimson Weed]

Hi all,

I will be starting cardiology fellowship in a few months. My goal is to do general cardiology only and become board-certified in echo, nucs, and CT. Is this typically achievable during 3-year fellowship provided adequate imaging resources? Also, does board-certified equate to COCATS II as far as numbers go?

Thank you!

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[aafisahar]

you can probably due all 3. It really depends on how much elective time you get and how busy the program is. We get ~12months of electives (2 first year, 4 second year, 8 3rd year) and it was pretty easy to get level 3 echo, level 2 ct/nuclear. CT is kind of a joke, there are multiple courses that will get you your numbers, especially if your institution doesn't have the volume you need. Don't know about the board exam though. Nuclear can be a chore because of how ****ing boring it is. Unless you want to do cath, getting level 3 in echo is pretty straightforward.

 

[BMW M5]

Hi all,

I will be starting cardiology fellowship in a few months. My goal is to do general cardiology only and become board-certified in echo, nucs, and CT. Is this typically achievable during 3-year fellowship provided adequate imaging resources? Also, does board-certified equate to COCATS II as far as numbers go?

Thank you!

yes, it's doable. I'm technically a "testamur" in echo, CT and nuc. I'll be starting my IC year in July. I'll probably get boarded in RPVI after my IC year. After you sit for your exams and successfully pass them, you'll need to submit your numbers following completion of your cardiology fellowship to call yourself "board certified" in whatever (echocardiography, cardiac CT, etc...). If you just pass your board exams, you're technically just a testamur. You have a time frame following completion of fellowship to submit your numbers or else you may have to take the initial certification exam again. That applies to all of these board exams...

You won't be able to read CTs at every job you interview at and if that is important to you, I would suggest filtering out jobs first closer to completion of your fellowship.

And yes, I believe you need to have COCATS 2 numbers at least.

Hope this helps.