The Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology (CCEP) Fellowship Program at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is a two-year accredited program that requires fellows to obtain competencies in the six areas as defined by the Accredited Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to the level expected of a new CCEP practitioner. It is recognized that the CCEP fellow is a mature individual who will be in his or her seventh year of post-graduate training, having already completed a minimum of three years of residency training in Internal Medicine and an additional three years of fellowship training in Cardiovascular Disease accredited by the ACGME. During the time leading up to the CCEP fellowship, the CCEP fellow will have already learned and mastered many of the important skills (such as consultative skills, professionalism, interpersonal and communication skills, compassionate caregiving, etc.). These skills will be preserved, reinforced and reassessed throughout the CCEP fellowship via close observation and interpersonal contact.  

The field of clinical electrophysiology is a procedure-based subspecialty. Accordingly, the main emphasis of the CCEP fellowship training is to attain procedural proficiency in all aspects of invasive electrophysiology, become skilled at consultative electrophysiology, and provide individualized ambulatory follow-up and troubleshooting for patients with implanted devices.

Methodology of CCEP Fellow Selection

The CCEP Fellow is selected from internal and nationwide applicants. In the fall of each year, all qualified applicants are offered in-person or remote interviews. During the interview process, each applicant has an opportunity to meet with each CCEP Core Faculty member, and if in-person, tour the EP laboratory, meet with the current CCEP fellows and support staff, and have lunch with the program director. By early winter, the CCEP Core Faculty convenes and selects the applicant with the best fit for the program; the program director then directly calls the selected applicant and offers the position. Written commitment is subsequently obtained.

At the end of the CCEP fellowship program, the fellows should be able to:

• Provide expert consultation in all aspects of rhythm management and clinical electrophysiology, pacing and defibrillation, assessing the syncopal patient, and managing genetically transmitted diseases such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, long QT syndrome, and other “channelopathies.”
• Show knowledge of, indications for, and procedural skills and expertise in all electrophysiologic procedures. Such procedures include diagnostic electrophysiology studies (with analysis of complex intra-cardiac electrograms), mapping and ablation for all types of supraventricular tachycardia (including atrioventricular nodal reentry in all its forms, reentry due to an accessory pathway, atrial flutter, and atrial fibrillation), mapping and ablation (endocardial and epicardial) for ventricular tachycardia, atrioventricular node modification for rate control in atrial arrhythmias, defibrillator and pacemaker implantation (including conduction system pacing, leadless pacemakers, cardiac resynchronization devices with left ventricular lead placement), lead extraction, including laser extraction, electric cardioversion, and tilt table testing.
• Show expertise in electroanatomic mapping, using both CARTO and Velocity mapping systems.
• Provide individualized outpatient follow-up, management, and trouble-shooting of implanted defibrillators and pacemakers.
• Review, critique, and analyze published scientific literature and incorporate the findings of clinical trials into routine clinical practice.
• Propose, plan, and carry out clinical research that will confirm or refute a proposed hypothesis or investigate a clinical issue.
• Communicate effectively with referring physicians and other medical personnel.
• Above all, provide ethical, professional, and compassionate care to patients and their families.