Academic Supervisor : Martin Buysschaert

Contact : Secretary's office for Internal Medecine

Tel. 02 764 10 54

E-mail buysschaert@diab.ucl.ac.be

Academic Supervisor : Jean-Louis Vanoverschelde

Contact : Secretary's office for the Unit of Cardio-Vascular Pathology

Tel. 02 764 28 03

E-mail vanoverschelde@card.ucl.ac.be

President : M. Buysschaert

Members : L. Delaunois, A. Ferrant, A. Geubel, Ph. Hainaut, F. Houssiau, Y. Pirson, M. Symann, J.-L. Vanoverschelde

President : J.-L. Vanoverschelde

Members : BLOMMAERT Dominique, BROHET Christian, CHENU Patrick, DE JONGHE Daniel, DE ROY Luc, DEBBAS Nadia, GERBER Bernhard, GURNE Olivier, HANET Claude, MARCHANDISE Baudouin, MELIN Jacques, PASQUET Agnès, RENKIN Jean, SCHROEDER Erwin. One representative from the "MACCS".

The Selection Committee for candidate assistant clinician specialist doctors (MACCS, in French) is composed of the members of the teaching Committee, to which are added two guest members and two co-opted members.

This complementary master's programme aims to prepare doctors to become officially recognised holders of the specific professional title of Specialist Doctor in Cardiology (Ministerial decree of 15.09.1979, published on 26.09.1979) modified by the Ministerial Decree of 09.02.1998, published on 01.07.1998).

• The applicant must hold the degree title of Doctor in Medecine or be a Doctor from a member country of the European Union authorising medical practice in Belgium.
• The applicant must be in possession of a document attesting that, at the end of the selection exams, he was retained as a specialist candidate in Cardiology, in a Belgian medical faculty.

The juridical context and practical procedures regarding these selection tests can be obtained from the secretary's office.

Degree holders from outside the European Union are only allowed to register on the programme in the context of procuring a university certificate for partially specialised training for the duration of two years (if they are in the process of doing a specialisation in their country of origin) or for an in-depth specialised training course for the duration of one year (if they are already recognised as specialists in their own country).

The Royal Decree of the 30.05.2002, relating to the planning of the medical offer for the public, published on 14.06.2002, applies to those candidates wishing to obtain the title of Specialist Doctor in Cardiology (those candidates are thus counted among the general practitioner candidates or specialists in the context of the numerus clausus).

• Candidates must have satisfied the requirements for the first exam of the specialised study degree in Internal Medecine.

Applications for admission must be addressed to the academic supervisor.

The organisation of the entrance selection tests is arranged in accordance with the calendar and the general examination rules and regulations.

The training course includes full time apprenticeships in recognised services and teaching centres. It lasts for at least six years, full-time, including three years of foundation studies in Internal Medecine and a higher training of three years in Cardiology. The apprenticeship project established by the university promoter must be approved by the ministerial validation committee for the speciality. These periods of practical training include being on call.

Three years, full time, consisting of :

• Basic training in internal medecine (including emergencies and intensive care) in the form of theoretical sessions, seminars and a supervised clinical training period.
• An apprenticeship of a minimum of three months and a maximum of six months in Cardiology.

The theoretical sessions of the first two years form part of the specific university training programme (FUS, in French).

Three years, full-time, during which the specialist candidate :

• will have the responsibility for caring for patients hospitalised in cardiology for a period of at least 6 mois
• will be responsible for the care of a minimum of 150 patients in polyclinic cardiology
• will participate for a minimum of 3 months in the work in the coronary Unit
• will participate in the pre- and post-operative care of cardiac patients and will be trained in operatory risk calculation for cardiac and non cardiac patients who have to undergo non surgical interventions
• will interpret a minimum of 1000 ECG and 150 Holter and participate in the control of a minimum of 50 cardiac stimulators of a standard model
• will learn the techniques and pratice of effort tests by carrying out and interpeting a minimum of 300 effort tests of which a certain number will be associated with ergospirometrical and radio-isotope tests
• will learn the technique of Doppler echo-cardiography for the period of 6 months. During this period, the candidate specialist will have to personally carry out and protocol a minimum of 300 trans-thoracic exams to which 50 trans-oesophageal exams will be added.
• will participate in the cardiac catheterisation activities in the laboratory. During this period, the candidate will participate in the discussions and therapeutic decisions as well as the practising of the exams, without having to take the responsibility for them. The first hand practice of the diagnostic exams requires complementary training.
• will participate in the carrying out of 50 electro-physiological exploratory exams, as well as in the diagnoses and therapeutic decisions thereof. The first-hand practice of the diagnostic electro-physiological exams requires complementary training
• will become familiar with the factors which give rise to cardio-vascular risks, as well as with prevention thereof and the multidisciplinary functional re-education of cardiac patients.

During the first 3 years of training, the specialist candidate will likewise benefit from theoretical instruction and inter-university studies.

Semestrial clinical evaluations : these evaluations are established (in writing) by the practical training supervisor of each candidate and focus on different items. The evaluations of all the candidates are reviewed during the two semestrial meetings of the ensemble of the supervisors.

At the end of these three years of training, each candidate will be evaluated during the course of an interview, aimed at testing his general knowledge in internal medecine.

Further to the application of the Royal Decree of 16 March, 1999, at the end of the first two years of the training course, the candidate will receive an attestation proving that he has successfully accomplished a specific university training course.

At the end of the first two years of studies, each candidate will be evaluated during the course of an interview destined to test his general knowledge in Cardiology.

At the end of the third year of training, each candidate will have to defend an original thesis (20-25 pages) on a cardiological subject. This thesis will serve as a basis for the publication required by the Ministerial Decree of 09.03.1979, published on 15.03.1979.

Upon fulfilment of the above-described training requirements, the teaching committee will award the academic title in Cardiology.

This title does not replace official recognition by the ministerial validation committee. It attests the successful completion of an academic and scientific study programme in the context of specialised training leading to this validation.