EAPCI Certification in Interventional Cardiology

Exam

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Eligibility

The EAPCI written examination is open to all practising interventional cardiologists. 

To register, you need to be:

• An EAPCI Associate or an EAPCI Member
• A doctor with national board certification in cardiology, or a doctor in cardiology specialist training (fellow) as confirmed by your training director (letter of confirmation is required)

EAPCI Certification is not a compulsory or regulatory certificate of competence or excellence. Individuals' rights to report and sign clinical studies in individual countries remain to be defined by national laws and regulations.

Exam format

The EAPCI Certification examination is a multiple-choice written examination in English.

The examination consists of 100 questions and runs over three hours, with no break.  

Questions are designed to assess the candidate's knowledge:

• Based on a clinical scenario
• Five options with only one single best answer
• No negative marking

Questions are drawn from the entire spectrum of interventional cardiology reflecting The PCR-EAPCI Textbook of Percutaneous Interventional Cardiovascular Medicine and ESC Clinical Practice Guidelines.

• Topics distribution of the examination questions (examination blueprint)

Exam date and delivery

The EAPCI examination is usually delivered once a year, using an online proctoring platform (CYIM/ProctorU^®).

This provides candidates with the safety and convenience of an online platform, while retaining the integrity and quality of an on-site supervised exam.

The online format of the EAPCI exam is:

• Accessible anywhere in the world
• Taken on the candidate’s own device (computer only) and monitored by a human proctor online through ProctorU^®

More information is available.

Exam preparation

The EAPCI exam is designed to test a wide range of interventional cardiology knowledge aligned with The PCR-EAPCI Textbook of Percutaneous Interventional Cardiovascular Medicine.

There is no single source from which all questions are developed, and candidates are encouraged to read widely, including but not limited to:

• The PCR-EAPCI Textbook of Percutaneous Interventional Cardiovascular Medicine
• ESC Clinical Practice Guidelines
• EAPCI Core Curriculum

In addition, the EAPCI proposes two sample questions to give candidates an idea of what to expect.

Exam results

The passing score of the exam is established using referenced methodologies, that are widely used in certification. The passing score links the score required to pass the exam to the minimum level of knowledge required for interventional cardiology practice.

Following the exam, a psychometric analysis of the questions is conducted and items that do not meet psychometric standards are removed from the exam. In addition, any items that have been flagged during the exam administration are reviewed and if these items are deemed to be defective for any reason they are removed from the exam.

Results are subjected to multiple levels of verification prior to being reported to candidates.

Examination results are communicated to candidates in the eight weeks after the examination.

Candidates will receive an email containing their results letter on the date of results release. Successful candidates to the exam will also receive a certificate of completion of the written exam.

Candidate’s results are also made available through the candidate’s My ESC account.  

Appeal

The ESC/EAPCI aims to deliver examinations of the highest quality and provide the best level of service for all candidates. To ensure that all candidates are assessed fairly, there is a procedure to allow candidates to appeal against their exam results.

Please find more information here.

Policies for online proctoring examinations

For more information, please refer to the ESC online proctoring examination Terms & Conditions. 

Logbook

Once candidates have passed the exam, they can then apply for the logbook part of the programme to prove their practical experience in the interventional cardiology field. No late submissions will be accepted and, if the deadline is not respected, the candidate will have to repeat the exam in order to apply for certification.

Eligibility

The EAPCI logbook part of the programme is accessible to all successful candidates to the exam. 

The access to the logbook platform is granted to candidates only after having successfully passed the written exam.

Information to ESCeL candidates: Candidates having passed part A of the EAPCI Certification and successfully passed the 24 months ESC e-Learning in Interventional Cardiology programme will automatically receive part B of the EAPCI certification. Indeed, the “skills” module of the 24 months ESC e-Learning in Interventional Cardiology programme is recognised as proof of the candidate’s practical experience in the field.

Part B will not be awarded to candidates enrolled in ESCeL and who will not complete the 24-months ESC e-Learning in Interventional Cardiology programme. 

Requirements

Candidates are required to provide evidence of their clinical experience.

Candidates have to:

• Declare their training centre along with the name of two different individuals responsible for the training of the candidate: one identified as the Mentor and the other being Department director/Supervisor who are both responsible for the training of the candidate.

Candidates must provide the following documents:

• A short hand-signed CV
• Generic information on the training centre
• Agreement and commitment from the Mentor and Department director/Supervisor
• Certificate of attendance to at least one EAPCI Congress (EuroPCR and/or PCR London Valves) during the 24 months of interventional cardiology training

Logbook regulations

Not complying with the below regulations will result in the logbook being returned to the candidate for modification and as such, delay the grading process.

• The application must be submitted in English. Any document in local language must be accompanied by an English translation.
• The application must not include any patient data, in order to comply with GDPR regulations. 
• The application must be submitted no later than two years after having received the exam results.
• Cases included in the logbook must have been collected anytime from two years before up to two years after the exam date and must cover only 24 consecutive months.
• Each patient may be present only once in the logbook. It is not allowed to add multiple studies of the same patient. 

Candidates are not asked to submit the full reports, although they may be requested by the EAPCI graders and EAPCI certification committee. Thus, candidates are asked to keep this information available. 

Note:

• If the candidate is expected to rotate to an external training centre to be exposed to specific procedures, this institution may appoint a local mentor and issue to the attention of the appointed individuals in charge of the candidates’ training in the declared training centre, a report specifically mentioning the “Level of competence translating into interventional cardiology skills” acquired specifically in this institution. This information will then be entered into the online platform by the appointed individuals in charge of the candidates’ training

Supervisor(s)

Candidates have to declare the name of two different individuals who are both responsible for its training:

• one identified as the Mentor 
• one identified as being Department Director/Supervisor 

The Mentor has to be EAPCI Associate or Member. The Department Director/Supervisor is not required to be EAPCI Associate or Member. 

Both the Mentor and the Department Director/Supervisor need to sign off on the logbook, certifying the accuracy of the application content and that the candidate had done all the procedures listed in the logbook. 

Note:

• In case the Mentor is also the Director of the department, a different colleague should be appointed as the official Mentor.

Logbook results

As soon as the logbook is compliant with the requirements, the application is sent for grading to members of the EAPCI Certification Committee. Graders may require additional information from the candidate in order to provide their grading. 

Results are sent by email within 3 months of submitting the e-Logbook. Please note that some delay in the grading can occur due to the high volume of applications received throughout the year. 

Appealing the logbook

Candidates who fail to the logbook part may raise an appeal.

Please find more information here.

Extension requests

There is a two-year window to complete the logbook part of the programme. In exceptional circumstances, candidates may request an extension to submit their application.

To ensure the process remains fair and robust, extensions will generally only be given in the following circumstances: parental leave, less than full-time work or illness of the candidate.

Extension requests must be accompanied by a signed letter from your supervisor briefly explaining the situation and stating the duration of the extension required. Requests cannot be considered without this letter. The request must be submitted before the deadline.

Please note that extension requests are not guaranteed and are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the certification committee.    

Use the Contact us to submit such requests and get further information.

Certification result and list of certified candidates

Candidates will be granted certification in interventional cardiology once they have completed the two parts of the programme (exam and logbook). The certification is valid for five years, after which the candidate must apply for recertification to keep the certification valid.

The EAPCI is pleased to share a list of all EAPCI Interventional Cardiology Certified individuals.