Training and education in cardiology have increasing importance for the people of Europe and the rest of the world due to the fact that cardiovascular diseases are causing death and invalidity in an increasing number of patients and the treatment of the diseases cost more and more for individuals and societies.
Cardiology training is now more and more harmonised in Europe and the recommendation of the training is written in Chapter 6 and can be found on our website http://www.uems-cardio.com/.
• There is a need for postgraduate training in cardiology in Europe.
• The European Accreditation Council for CME (EACCME), a subgroup of UEMS, together with UEMS Cardiology Section, recommends to all cardiolgists in Europe to earn over a 5 year period 250 credit hours to fulfill the European requirements in CME (UEMS/EACCME Doc D 9907,D 9908).
Lino Gonzalves gave a short presentation of EBAC (European Board for Accreditation in Cardiology (a joint venture between UEMS Cardiology Section and ESC.) activity. EBAC has increased its activity tremendously over the last years. Only a few of them are ESC activities. EBAC is also a model for others countries accreditation processes.
The Netherlands has an outstanding training programme and also a good postgraduate training system. Peter Polak told the audience about his experience in leading the postgraduate training programme.
There is a need for a high standard of electrophysiological laboratories in Europe. An accreditation process will probably help to increase the standards as suggested by Professor Heikki Huikuri.
S. Windecker gave us the scientific rationale in that PCI in acute myocardial infarction should only be done in high volume centres with very experienced invasive cardiologists.