Global Platform Advances Congenital Heart Education

Heart University—an online, interactive global platform—continues to evolve to provide the most relevant educational tools and resources for physicians and surgeons treating pediatric and adult congenital heart conditions. New offerings and collaborations are also helping increase engagement among physicians around the world.

“We’re interested in what we can create here,” says Ashley Neal, MD, pediatric cardiologist at Cincinnati Children’s. “We also want to build on the resources and the expertise that exists in other places.”

Neal serves as editor of the Pediatric Cardiac Learning Center within Heart University. Adult congenital cardiologist Jonathan Windram, MBChB, University of Alberta Hospital, serves as editor of the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Learning Center within Heart University. The educational mission is further supported by a program specialist, Ashley Yacobozzi, with prior industry experience relevant to content creation and learning management systems.

Fostering Global Collaboration

Launched in 2019, Heart University provides education to more than 15,000 physicians and trainees from more than 165 countries. Cincinnati Children's leads the website’s ongoing development. Neal and Windram meet weekly and constantly look for ways to build and grow content.

Cardiology Across Continents is just one example of how Heart University is now engaging cardiologists globally to foster collaboration and improve outcomes. The live webinar series facilitates interactive, case-based discussions between pediatric and adult congenital cardiology providers in low- and middle-income countries with physicians in high- and high-middle-income countries.

Starting with Cincinnati Children’s and the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre in India, the series now includes multiple groups and institutions in several countries and across the United States.

Cardiology Across Continents allows trainees and faculty members from centers with different resources to partner and review a real-world case. During the case presentation, participating providers:

• Consider the impact of practice setting and resource availability on management strategy.
• Learn different treatment approaches for cardiac lesions.
• Discuss the rationale behind the care choices.

“We want to understand what cardiology care is like in middle-income and low-income places, how it might differ and what we can learn from one another,” Neal says. The technology has facilitated case-based learning relevant to patient care in locations including the United States, India and Mexico.

Future plans for this feature include creating more educational content to stimulate discussion about the featured cases between sessions, expanding the list of participating sites and increasing educational scholarship, Neal says.

Developing Specialized Trainings

Specialty medical groups now see increased opportunities for Heart University as a training platform. Historically the site was directed toward pediatric cardiologists and pediatric cardiology trainees, Neal says.

From a clinical education standpoint, the training center is providing new content for congenital cardiologists, such as:

• Collaborating with the Pediatric & Congenital Electrophysiology Society (PACES) to develop new curriculum for trainees, such as an electrocardiogram (ECG) practice test module and “ECG of the month” feature, which presents ECG results for users to interpret.
• Partnering with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery Trainee group to create a fellow-driven Board Review "question of the month." 

All features are interactive, says Neal. For example, learners get feedback on the responses and rationale they provide. The "question of the month" modules also let users compare their performance to others.

Some initial success came from working with the AAP’s trainee groups, Neal says. The partnership opened the door to serving other educator and trainee needs and potential audiences.

In addition, a new effort with the Pediatric Acute Care Cardiology Collaborative (PAC3) recently launched. Heart University completed a needs assessment and has collaborated to create a curriculum for advanced practice providers working with inpatients. The needs assessment was presented at the 8th World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery in August, Neal says.

Another training under development involves the AAP’s Trainees and Early Career Neonatologists (TECaN) group. Thanks to this collaboration, Heart University is building a curriculum for trainees in cardiology and neonatology.

“We think it fills a gap that people don’t really get in either neonatal or pediatric cardiology training,” Neal says.

The makers behind Heart University believe in getting input from its target audience. To that end, former Cincinnati Children’s pediatric cardiology fellow Michael Kim, DO, serves as the website’s first fellow board member. Kim remains in this role as he continues his subspecialty training in cardiac intensive care at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Evidence-Based Cardiac Resources

Heart University also works with the Association for European Paediatric and Congenital Cardiology (AEPC). Both are educational partners of the 8th World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery. Together, they combine resources to create new content.

All content offered on Heart University is free. Creating a free account allows users to see their completed trainings and how they perform against others. Content on the site that is part of the “training center” requires users to register. This lets users and Heart University track their progress as learning activities are completed, Neal says.

Most recorded conferences live in the video library and do not require registration. Featured learning content does require registration. These include the "Pediatric Heart Transplant Society" curriculum, PACES ECG module, adult congenital heart disease 15-minute modules and the question-of-the-month features.

If you’re interested in helping to create content or want to get more involved, email heartuniversity@cchmc.org.

(Published December 2023)

Read More from the Heart Institute