News archives
Institute for Therapy AdvancementNews archives
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Advancing the Standard of Patient Care with Cardiac Rhythm and Heart Failure Management Training at the Institute
12/17/2010
In the light of compelling evidence concerning the contribution of device therapy towards the prevention of sudden death and heart failure treatment, an unmeet need for training in device therapy and continuing medical education has emerged.
Recent clinical trials have changed the medical community's perception of device programming to ensure optimal patient outcomes through therapy tailoring. Today, practical recommendations can be made for optimized programming in specific clinical settings. Delivering this information to the medical community and establishing behavioral change based on solid evidence is an urgent, unmet need. Our activity at the Institute for Therapy Advancement aims straight at this core need, and it is doing so with enthusiasm and success!
- Dr. Mauro Biffi
Policlinico Sant’Orsola, Bologna, Italy -
Do You Need Customized Training?
12/17/2010
With 37 Customized education programs delivered in 2010, the Institute has demonstrated its capability to tailor programs. Working on choosing the right speaker faculty, course content and hands-on exercises will help you meet your specific learning objectives. We regularly provide training which fulfills specific requirements such as local language, precise product/therapy, medical and paramedical audience and team-related demands (new staff, new equipment).
This is possible due to our network of international medical experts, our team expertise in designing focused educational projects and providing deep technical support, and our unique training tools, faculty and facility.
- The ITA team
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Virtual Reality: A Mandatory Step in Physician Education
06/17/2010
Medical learning acquisition throughout specialties and especially in Interventional Cardiology will soon be deeply modified by Virtual Reality technology.
Training on simulated medical cases is to me a mandatory step in physician education. Like flight simulators for pilots, physicians get practice on machines without involving patients’ health. More advanced physicians may want to work on more complex cases, closer to everyday real-life experiences where the clinical practice do not allow much of a technical or technological exploration.
Virtual Reality in medicine is no longer a gadget but is getting closer and closer to Interventionist sensations. Complex scenarii would also force some upstream therapeutic strategic thinking which does have major impact on the quality of results (ie. anti-thrombotic management).To conclude, Virtual Reality should not stay exclusive in some center of excellence but needs to be integrated into all specialties…
Dr. Olivier Varenne
Interventional Cardiologist
Cochin Hospital, Paris, France -
The Role of Education in Successful ICD Therapy
06/15/2010
The number of patients for a primary prophylactic ICD indication is increasing. Today 70% of all ICD implantations are based on the study results of Madit II, SCD HeFT and Companion.
Patients need to be screened for a high risk of sudden cardiac death and the indication of an ICD for primary prophylactic reasons. The relative risk reduction of 20-30% mortality based on the primary prophylactic treatment with an ICD is comparable to results of mortality reduction with an ICD after survived sudden cardiac death.
Due to evolving techniques, ICD implantation has become a routine procedure with a very low opera- tive risk. The focus is now on long-term follow-up with reliable ICD leads and sufficient ICD therapy avoiding shock delivery.The quality of life in ICD patients is dependent on the training status of physicians to achieve the best possible programming of ICD devices. It is our goal to make you confident in ICD indications, implanting procedures and ICD programming features. International experts are invited to share their knowledge and experience with you.
The educational benefit to patients and physicians is the best guarantee of successful
ICD therapy in the future.Our training programme includes accredited sessions for Bradycardia & Tachycardia Treatment, Advanced Troubleshooting courses and preparation for the boards of the Heart Rhythm Society as well as for the European Heart Rhythm Society.
- Dr A. Schaumann
Cardiologist, Hamburg, Germany
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Sharing Best Practices: Training a Whole Endovascular Team
06/15/2010
May 17th and 18th, we hosted a whole Endovascular team from the Belgian hospital Bois de l’Abbaye.
The three physicians in charge of the service trained their 14 co-workers (nurses, operators…)
on current Endovascular techniques supported by several lectures, movies, product demonstrations and manipulation.They also went through specific topics such as “How to set a CathLab for right and left iliac interventions”, "Understanding Reimbursement Policy" and, last but not least, about Radioprotection: “How to better protect yourself and your patients from X-rays”.
On the hands-on side of the training, participants rotated between the CathLab, where they worked on punctioning and navigating through iliac artery flow models, and the Virtual Reality Room where they got training on iliac, superficial femoral arteries and renal lesion scenarii.
“I’m so glad I could learn concrete things applicable to my daily practice. I will now be able to anticipate requests from the physician I’m working with. I never had a chance before to fully realize the importance of device choice and strategic thinking. Now I have been through a whole procedure on the VR, the intervention's steps are clearer to me and it will benefit the physician as well as the patients” said a participant.
- Emilie Bidaud, Nathalie Ganas
Institute Training Specialists
