Educational Programs

AFIC considers educational outreach as one if its principal fiduciary obligations to the citizens of Ohio. Our physicians and researchers are very active in publishing the results of their research, and in giving public presentations at national conferences. Still, AFIC has been devising programs to extend beyond standard dissemination of information for the good of the field. Some of these outreach programs are discussed below.

Several of our physicians have traveled to rural regions of Ohio, teaming up with local physicians to deliver an AFIC-sponsored patient outreach program: Health Talk - Keeping the Beat: Atrial Fibrillation and You!! We have provided a similar instructional lecture at Case Western Reserve for sufferers of atrial fibrillation on the basics of the disease, and the current methods of treatment available.

AFIC physicians are also participating in bimonthly webinar presentations on AFIC research activities and state of the art treatments for atrial fibrillation. These webinars, sponsored by the American College of Cardiology, have been made available to the public, but is geared toward health care providers.

AFIC is working to substantially expand its existing efforts in the educational outreach arena, negotiating with a large device manufacturer to sponsor a series of educational programs for rural areas and hospitals in Ohio. Proposed is a six-site educational program that would involve both AFIC physicians and local Ohio cardiologists to hold a half day atrial fibrillation seminar series. The first hour and a half of the program will be AF experts talking with AF sufferers about atrial fibrillation, how to diagnose it, how to live with it, and how to treat it. The next two hours would be an interactive session on the most recent advances in atrial fibrillation therapies, including new surgical techniques, home monitoring devices, pharmaceutical therapies, and non-mainstream treatments.

As a compliment to our outreach programs, AFIC has opened up its laboratories to train physicians on the use of cutting edge AF treatment tools. Hansen Medical and CardioFocus, Inc. have both jumped at the chance to bring physicians to Cleveland to get hands-on training experience on the next generation of devices and therapies.