As Cardiology has evolved during the last ten years, it has developed into many subspecialties: Preventive Cardiology, Coronary Interventional, Vascular Interventional, Heart Failure Specialists and Electrophysiology (EP). In particular, EP has taken on a much larger role than just a subspecialty. This field is growing at a high rate; EP lab staff has less and less time to complete on the job training. The technologists and nurses in the EP lab are viewed as an extension of the physician performing the procedure, and they are all an integral part of the care and treatment of the patients. There have been no formal educational programs or training, except for courses offered by the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS; previously known as the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology), in-services offered by medical device companies, and hospital-based educational seminars offered by senior EP techs and nurses. Nevertheless, the complexity of the 3D advanced mapping recording, ablation equipment and device troubleshooting continues to increase, all of which requires highly trained electrophysiology lab staff to run equipment and facilitate the everyday, stressful EP job. Another challenge is recruiting and maintaining a trained electrophysiology staff, which is extremely difficult due to the lack of formal educational programs. Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute (TCAI) was founded to fulfill the need of a well-rounded training program for nurses, technicians, fellows, local physicians, and physicians from other states as well as other countries. The Institute was founded in January 2006 by six electrophysiologists (R. Horton, MD, R. Canby, MD, J. Sanchez, MD, J. Gallinghouse, MD, L. Price, DO and J. Zagrodzky, MD) and Maha Rinaudo, PhD, following the lead of Dr. Horton and Dr. Sanchez, who for the last 10 years have been training EP lab staff during their spare time. TCAI goes over every aspect of an EP study (EPS), including basic intervals to ablation electrograms, and covers the types of changes one would expect during the ablation of specific tachycardias. After attending our classes, the student should be able to go back to their respective hospitals and be able to understand a basic EPS, know what the doctor is looking for, and be able to function on the GE Prucka system at an improved level, whether the student is new to the system or has experience. TCAI also utilizes a Registered Nurse from non-invasive cardiology and a variety of highly qualified device company speakers. TCAI is the only institute dedicated to the teaching of all aspects of Electrophysiology. Our audience includes: Nurses, physicians, cardiac therapists, and technicians, as well as other healthcare professionals who are interested in EP and Cardiology to further their education and training; Domestic and international practicing clinicians and residents who receive training from TCAI clinical experts; and Fellowship graduates with in vivo training under the supervision of cardiologists and EPs. A large selection of programs have been created, which we will describe in the next section.

TCAI Programs:

EP Specialized Training Classes