We've produced some guidelines, teaching materials and even a quick ECG guide. We understand Paediatric Cardiology can be a daunting subject but it needn't be.
Important! These pages are written for healthcare professionals and assumes medical knowledge. Guidelines are never a substitute for clinical judgement or experience.
Please feel free to download and use any of our little tutorials. They are aimed at giving you a good grounding and understanding of the most common and most important paediatric cardiology. There are also a couple of tutorials on important anatomy (foetal circulation) and physiology. Reproduction must be with permission only.
Please feel free to download and use any of our little tutorials. They are aimed at giving you a grounding and understanding in Paediatric Cardiology that would be expected of a junior registrar. Reproduction must be with permission only.
The guidelines here are endorsed by PECSIG and set out monitoring, dosage or usage guidelines for certain medications. We must reiterate that these are guidelines only and no substitute for experienced help from your local cardiologist or pharmacist.
The guidelines here are endorsed by PECSIG and set good practices in management of various conditions. We must reiterate that these are guidelines only and no substitute for experienced help from your local cardiologist or pharmacist.
If you have an interest in Children's Heart Disease there are two paths to becoming a specialist: Paediatric Cardiologist or Paediatrician with Expertise in Cardiology. Both are fully qualified Doctors.
1. Paediatric Cardiologist:
A paediatric cardiologist only looks after children with heart disease. They are affiliated to the Royal College of Physicians rather than the Royal College of Paediatrics. Paediatric Cardiologists cannot care for children in general paediatrics but they do look after children with the most complex hearts. Their work is varied though and may include catheter procedures (interventional cardiology), fetal scanning, advanced imaging and planning surgery. So, if you just want to look after hearts and nothing else then this is for you. There are currently seven centres in the UK with Paediatric Cardiologists so expect to be tied to just a few places.
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2. Paediatrician with Expertise in Cardiology:
A Paediatrician with expertise is a paediatrician first and foremost. Their role is very broad from general paediatric oncalls, routine clinics, safeguarding duties and even neonatal intensive care. Within their role they run specialist clinics for children with heart disease. All paediatricians with expertise have extensive training in interpretation of ECGs, Echocardiograms (scans) and other cardiac tests. They work closely with a specialist paediatric cardiologist who will visit regularly from their regional centre. If you are keen to have a varied role with some heart work then this is for you. Your options for where to work are wide but don't expect to be performing catheters, making crucial decisions about surgery or being the world's foremost expert in something rare.
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