EP now a 2 year fellowship

[nstemi]

It's official. Starting in 2017-2018, EP is now a required 2 year fellowship (on top of 3 years general cardiology). No more 2+2 or 3+1.

http://www.abim.org/certification/p...utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CCEP-ETR-policy

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[Handsome88]

Great, like we needed one more reason to make subspecializing in cardiology less desirable. This also means IMGs on J1 visas cannot apply. What about interventional? Is that going to follow the same?

 

[FreakofMeds]

IMGs on J1 can apply. You can extend your J1 beyond 7 years for one more year if you can prove ongoing training needs. And yes, the training time is getting out of hand. EP is already super saturated. I guess having a 2 year barrier instead of 1 may end up making EP less saturated down the line.

As far as interventional goes, it would be madness to require more than 12 months to do PCI. Not all interventionists are interested in peripheral or structural. I see an ABIM requirement for structural / peripheral of an additional 12 months to be reasonable. Otherwise this would be stupid.

 

[Handsome88]

IMGs on J1 can apply. You can extend your J1 beyond 7 years for one more year if you can prove ongoing training needs. And yes, the training time is getting out of hand. EP is already super saturated. I guess having a 2 year barrier instead of 1 may end up making EP less saturated down the line.

As far as interventional goes, it would be madness to require more than 12 months to do PCI. Not all interventionists are interested in peripheral or structural. I see an ABIM requirement for structural / peripheral of an additional 12 months to be reasonable. Otherwise this would be stupid.

I didn't know you can extend J1 beyond 7 years. I was pretty sure you can extend for 1 more year UPTO 7 years max.

How competitive is interventional nowadays? Can someone easily get into a fellowhip if they choose to or is it as tough as getting gen cards?

 

[FreakofMeds]

I didn't know you can extend J1 beyond 7 years. I was pretty sure you can extend for 1 more year UPTO 7 years max.

How competitive is interventional nowadays? Can someone easily get into a fellowhip if they choose to or is it as tough as getting gen cards?

http://www.ecfmg.org/evsp/evspeememo.pdf

"“Duration of participation is limited to seven years unless the alien physician has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Director [of the Department of State] that the country to which the alien physician will return at the end of additional specialty education or training has an exceptional need for an individual with such additional qualification.” [22CFR§62.27(e)(2)] “The responsible officer [ECFMG] seeking a program extension on behalf of an exchange visitor…shall: (1) Adequately document the reasons which justify such extension; and (2) Secure the prior written approval of the Department of State for such extension.” [22CFR§62.43(c)]"

It's a hassle to get an 8th year, but it is doable. I am applying to Interventional right now and I think it is competitive, but I think General Cards is still more competitive. Additionally, while you can afford retrying for application to interventional cardiology and practice as a general cardiologist in the meantime, it's much harder to get into general cards if you don't get it the first time out of residency and have to work as a general internist in the meantime.

 

[jcdoc]

how does that affect people who enter there gen card fellowship in 2014 and if their program do offer 2+2 training, ie. de facto EP fellowship starts in 2016 ??

 

[nstemi]

The current first year cardiology fellows are apparently going to be the first class to be required to do the extra year.