Bridging the Gap: A Condensed Fetal Cardiology Curriculum Improves Pediatric Cardiology Fellow Performance and...

A standardized fetal cardiology curriculum is beneficial for categorical pediatric cardiology fellowship training. Understanding of the discipline plays an increasingly important role in clinical practice. Accordingly, knowledge of these topics is assessed on national examinations including the Pediatric Cardiology Board Certification Exam. We developed a 3-week fetal cardiology curriculum, which included 6 didactic lectures and 4 case-based learning sessions. We delivered this condensed lecture series annually for our categorical pediatric cardiology fellows from 2018 to 2025. Fellows' self-reported knowledge before and after the course and score changes on the fetal cardiology section of the board examination (BE) were evaluated. Fifty-six fellows completed at least one year of the curriculum, and 22 surveys were received. The fellows felt strongly that "the course met personal expectations" (average 86.8%, standard deviation 16.4%) and "improved current knowledge" (average 95.2%, standard deviation 8.5%). Self-reported scores showed perceived improvement in knowledge in all domains. We found that case-based learning was helpful in improving understanding of topics; we increased this modality in subsequent years. Between 2018 and 2024, the gap between our graduates' BE scores and the national average in percentage of correct answers in fetal topics decreased from - 20.3% to 0%. Implementation of a dedicated, condensed fetal cardiology curriculum demonstrated increased confidence and understanding of fetal cardiology. Concurrently, we noted a positive trend in BE scores.