Due to the circumstances around COVID-19, the 2020 BCIS international fellowships commenced later than anticipated.
Given the ongoing uncertainty with COVID, BCIS has made the difficult decision to postpone 2021 fellowships round, with the aim to advertise in Spring 2022 for fellowships to start in 2023.
We appreciate that this is very disruptive to trainees wishing to apply. We will keep to updated about any progress.
COVID-19 Conference: Sharing the International Lessons Learned
22nd July 2020
BCIS is pleased to endorse The Royal Society of Medicine’s international COVID-19 conference which will bring together thought leaders from around the world to share the key clinical learnings about COVID-19.
The webinar will consolidate our clinical understanding of the impact of the virus, in order to prepare for our future management of the pandemic.
An international faculty of health experts will distil the evidence and consider the key lessons learned globally during a series of four stimulating panel discussions:
Respiratory effects: critical care and ventilation
Impacts on the brain and the nervous systems
Cardiovascular complications and the role of thrombosis
Looking forward: research, vaccines and future management strategies
By examining the most effective ways of treating COVID-19 around the world,
and evaluating the human impact of the coronavirus pandemic, he RSM intend to
distil advice for improving patient treatment and share ways of mitigating the
impact of future outbreaks.
Register to watch this conference live and receive a link to watch on-demand
until the end of August.
Join in the conversation online using #RSMCOVIDConf
China-EU Exchange – COVID-19: Perspectives from the Frontlines
16th April 2020
China-EU Exchange – COVID-19: Perspectives from the Frontlines, is a collaborative conversation between the Chinese Society of Cardiology and the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society and supported by Boston Scientific.
The conversation is chaired by Professor Junbo Ge of Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University and president of the Chinese Society of Cardiology, and Professor Nick Curzen of University Hospital Southampton and President of the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society. Presenters are Dr Ning Zhou, M.D., PhD of Wuhan Tongji Hospital, China and Dr Liang Dong, M.D. of 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, China. Dr Ning Zhou shares his experience through his presentation titled: Clinical characteristics and management of COVID-19 patients, which is shown in Part 2. In Part three, our second presenter Dr Liang Dong shares his knowledge through his presentation titled Principles of Prevention. Within the presentations, the Chairs, Prof. Ge and Prof. Curzen engage in Q&A with the presenters.
The experience exchange focuses on the China experience as the country starts to recover from the COVID-19 outbreak, in the hope that other countries can learn from their experience and assess the strategies imposed to manage the disease.
Watch all four parts of the conversation below:
Part 1: Introduction and Opening Address
Part 2: Principles of Prevention
Presenter: Dr Liang Dong, M.D. of 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, China
Part 3: Clinical Characteristics and Management
Presenter: Dr Ning Zhou, M.D., PhD of Wuhan Tongji Hospital, China
Part 4: Summary and Closing Remarks
This conversation has been brought to you by BCIS and Boston scientific, supported by Millbrook Medical Conferences and Radcliffe Cardiology. No parties have charged a fee for the production of this educational content.
Has There Really Been a Fall in Heart Attack Presentations in the UK?
6th April 2020
Let’s answer that question together
Dear BCIS Member,
There is much debate that we may be seeing substantially fewer patients presenting with myocardial infarction across the UK since the COVID pandemic struck, and a commensurate concern that this may be because patients are too nervous to seek the help they need. Without national audit data, however, these observations remain speculative. It is our intention, with your help, to look at this question using the BCIS-NICOR database to which we all contribute. We have assurances that the logistical barriers that have prevented rapid data access and analysis in the past can be circumvented, and that we, therefore, will be able to both provide outputs and disseminate the findings very rapidly.
We stress that the purpose is NOT to assess the performance of you or your teams, but to provide important and timely national data in a dynamic situation, to assess patient events and access in response to the pandemic.
In the first instance, we propose to simply compare the month by month rate of STEMI/NSTEMI PCI for the first 3 months of this year compared to the same time period last year.
We can only do this if you are able to upload your data promptly to NICOR. We, therefore, need the help of members, particularly those who take responsibility in their centres for the data upload:
If at all possible we are asking that you upload all your PCI data (even if it as yet un-validated) to the end of March 2020 by the end of April.
We will take a data extract at the end of April and should be able to provide some simple analyses within about a week. We acknowledge that later uploads might contain modified data, once there is time for full validation, and again stress that the purpose is NOT about assessing the performance of you or your teams.
Many thanks for your ongoing engagement with the national audit processes in these challenging times… we hope you agree that this is an important piece of work that we can all achieve together.
Join us for a full day workshop in exploring the calcium algorithm, using case examples to identify and explain the approaches required. You will leave with tips, tricks, techniques and ideas of new technologies for treating calcified arteries.
Open to Consultants, Interventional Fellows and Trainees (ST6/7)
I would like to invite you attend the 2nd BCIS Research Abstract Day on Thursday 13th December 2018, Royal College of Physicians, London.
At the event, the top 4 shortlisted submissions in the categories for the Young Investigator Award (YIA) and Research of the Year will presenting their abstracts in front of a panel of judges, chaired by Prof Adrian Banning, BCIS President. The winners in these 2 categories will then be invited to present their abstract at a main session at ACI 2019 and will receive their certificate and prize from the President at this session.
Schedule:
– Registration/sign-in opens from 10.15am.
– The morning session focuses on the YIA, and is scheduled between 11am – 1pm. There will be a lunch break from 1pm to 1.40pm. The YIA winner will be announced by 1.45pm.
– The afternoon session focuses on Research of the Year, and is scheduled between 1.45pm – 3.45pm. There will be a refreshments break of approx 15 minutes. The Research of the Year winner will be announced shortly after 4pm.
Lunch and coffee will be provided during the day to BCIS members.
If you are interested in securing a place, please contact asap Azeem Ahmad, BCIS Administrator, bcis@bcs.com.
Best wishes
Prof Nick Curzen
Chair, BCIS R&D Committee
Prof. Nick Curzen BM(Hons) PhD FRCP
Professor of Interventional Cardiology/Consultant Cardiologist
E Level, North Wing, University Hospital Southampton NHS FT, Southampton SO16 6YD
Survey: The organisation, life-work balance and gender perceptions amongst UK Cardiologists
27th February 2018
Dr Shareen Jaijee, Consultant Cardiologist, Imperial NHS Trust, is carrying out a Masters in Medical Leadership with Birkbeck University and the Royal College of Physicians studying gender differences in perceptions and barriers at work, such as organisational support, work-life balance, professional satisfaction, career progression and attitudes to part time work. Large scale studies examining these key aspects of work have been carried out in the US, but not within the UK and there is a significant data gap.
Please click here if you wish to participate in this survey.
One of the many functions of the BCIS AHP Working Group is to help with the education of other AHPs who may be involved in coronary intervention. The first catheter lab basics meeting that we organised was held in March 2013 in London, at the Royal Free Hospital. The following year it was hosted by Manchester Royal Infirmary. The third course was held in March 2015 at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Glasgow. As usual, I arranged to attend the meeting to present on radiation protection and identifying coronary arteries. I also helped with the arrangements for the two-day course. To get from Manchester to Glasgow takes about 4 hours by car, 3 hours by train or 50 minutes by aeroplane. Naturally, I chose the “quick” option. So I met Dr Fraser in the departure lounge at Manchester Airport at about 7.30pm for our 8.15pm flight. “On time”, said the screens. Soon it was postponed to 8.45, then 9.00, then 9.40 and finally 10.15. The departure lounge was deserted, apart from the unfortunates booked on our flight. We had been given a voucher for a meal on the way to the gate, but all the outlets had closed for the evening. When we got to the gate, the aircraft was half the size of the one that had been booked. There was nowhere for my case. It was rather cramped, but otherwise satisfactory until 10 minutes before landing we were told that we would not be landing at Glasgow, but at Edinburgh. “Don’t worry though, there will be taxis to take you onto Glasgow” came the tannoy. So the unfortunate 36 of us (on the plane) trampled out to the waiting people carriers and were loaded onto vehicles. An hour or so later we were in the city centre and some passengers were dumped and others, ourselves included, loaded onto another taxi for the onward journey to our hotel. God knows how long that took, but we finally reached the reception at 1.40am and our rooms at 2.00 am. How we ran the meeting, I don’t know, but the meeting was once again a resounding success. The moral of this story is that I shall never try the quickest route to Glasgow again.
Bryan Walker Clinical Lead Radiographer – Manchester Heart Centre Radiographer representative, BCIS AHP Working Group June 2015
Following much discussion regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the second 2 day March AHPs’ meeting in Manchester, we all suggested ways in which it could be improved for Glasgow in 2015. It was agreed to change the running order and to include some recorded live cases to illustrate practice to less experienced colleagues.
There was also discussion of the AHPs’ section of the annual ACI meeting in London during January 2015. The group made many suggestions as to how this meeting too could be improved for AHPs.
The final item of note was a discussion of a plan to have open days at various catheter laboratories throughout the UK. Each would be open for one visit each year to around 4-5 visitors.
Bryan Walker
Radiographer Representative
BCIS Working Group
Clinical Lead Radiographer Manchester Royal Infirmary, Catheter Labs
