Invasive Cardiac Electrophysiology Certification

Certification examination organised by the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA)

There EHRA exam on electrophysiology and cardiac pacing is dedicated to test the knowledge, experience, clinical expertise and proficiency of physicians specialized on the treatment of patients suffering from cardiac arrhythmias. Together with the EHRA logbook of interventional procedures/operations performed under supervision of senior colleagues it provides the basis for EHRA certification in electrophysiology and cardiac pacing.

In order to encourage a high standard of knowledge and clinical expertise and to enable physicians to provide their patients with the best and most advanced standard of treatment we envision a successful EHRA certification process to serve as a sign of outstanding excellence for the respective physician. To achieve and maintain that level of quality testing we continuously focus our efforts on improving number, content, layout, and statistical power of the EHRA exam questions.

We strongly recommend physicians who intend to enter the EHRA certification process to acquire a sufficient amount of knowledge and clinical experience before attending the EHRA exam. In general 50% of the procedures required for the EHRA logbook should be completed before applying for the exam. A short questionnaire interrogating the candidates’ clinical background will be provided during the registration process for the exam.”

Forthcoming EP exam:

Date

Place

Time

Thursday 14 June 2012

Cardiostim Congress 2012

09:00

Application Fee:

Regular fee	€200
EHRA Members fee	€170
Re-sit fee	€100

In the event that a participant wishes to cancel their registration to the certification examination, written confirmation to the ESCcertification@escardio.org is required, up to 2 weeks prior the event. A refund of fees will be made. After this deadline, the candidate will be charged with a penalty of 50% of the certification cost and refunded the difference.

In case of unforeseen circumstances (such as death in the family, on-call at the hospital, accident of the candidate...), a proof document will be required and the candidate will be refunded with the entire registration fee.

Requirements | Documents to submit | Examination process | How to prepare

Requirements

The certification examinations are run in two steps:

Theoretical part: written exam. Candidates will have to pass this first section successfully before going to the second section.
The exam is in English. A glossary is provided.
Practical part: log book section. Candidates must submit a list of at least 200 procedures. At least 100 out of them should be ablation procedures performed by the candidate as first operator. Expericence should be gathered during 3 consecutive years. Candidates can start compiling their logbook before sitting the Theoretical part. The logbook must be sent through an electronic platform: the E-Logbook. Candidates have 3 years after the exam to provide it.

To sit a certification exam, all applicants have to be a Cardiology Specialist (issued by a National Authority of Health or the European Union or, in the future, by the UEMS).

Documents to submit and complete the certification process after having successfully passed the theorical exam:

Letter of Endorsement from the National Society
Letter of support from a Supervisor
Cardiologist Title
List of Procedures (Log Book)
- Catheter Ablation procedure
- Diagnostic Electrophysiology procedure

Examination

The certification is run in two steps:

1-The theoretical examination

It is compiled by the Certification Committee, essentially consists of a 130 multiple-choice question test.

Answers are to be reported on a mark sheet.

Questions are based on the analysis of practical clinical cases and decision making (60-80%), with the remaining dedicated to theoretical questions.
10 questions out of the 130 are back up questions and are used only for internal process. The final mark is thus based on 120 questions and is calculated on 75% of the 5 best scores and must be superior to 60% of the questions. In case the number of candidates is below thirty (30), the passing score will be calculated on 75% of the best three (3) scores, and must be superior to 60% of the questions.

There is no appeal procedure available after the examination.

The examination is designed to be completed in two consecutive parts of 3 hours with a 60 minutes lunch break:

9:00 - 12:00: 1st part
12:00 - 13:00: Lunch break (lunch is provided by EHRA)
13:00 - 16:00: 2nd part*

Participants are required to sign in at least 30 minutes before the start, IDs will be checked.
Participants will have to sign out the registration list upon handing out their copy (for both parts).
Participants will be asked to answer a feedback questionnaire.

* EHRA reserves the right to modify the above schedule if required.

Results are sent within 2 months after the examination, by email.

2- Log book section

Once candidates have passed the theoretical examination, they must prove practical experience in the field: experience in at least 200 procedures. At least 100 out of them should be ablation procedures. Experience should be gathered during 3 consecutive years.

Candidates must submit their logbook on the E-Logbook platform.

Exam candidates from session before June 2010 exam can choose between the E-Logbook and the paper logbook to be sent to the European Heart House - EHRA Certification Office (2035 route des Colles - les Templiers - BP 179 - 06903 Sophia Antipolis).

Upon passing the theoretical examination, candidates will receive the details to access the E-Logbook platform.

A grader, from the EHRA Certification Committee, will grade the log books. On average, review process takes 2 months. Upon passing the whole certification process, candidates will receive a certificate.

As a security, candidates should keep a copy of their log book.

Final results are sent by email.

Certification is valid for a period of time of 10 years.

You are allowed to take the written exam before completing the rest of the requirements for certification and you will get an official certification if you succeed it.
However, to obtain the FULL Certification, you must provide the above documents after at most a period of 3 years.

How to prepare for the examination

EHRA offers the possibility to follow Educational Courses. Attending the courses may also enable participants to get further knowledge to sit and pass the certification examination.

Topic distribution of the written examination questions*