Cardiovascular and Neurovascular Care for the Frontline Clinician
Be empowered and equipped to handle most any type of cardiovascular emergency with The Heart Course self‑study program.
Learn optimal treatment strategies and new guidelines for the management of cardiac and vascular emergencies.
Course Topics:
- Faster Than a Speeding Bullet: Narrow Complex Tachycardias
- Atrial Fibrillation Risk Stratification
- Wide-Complex Tachycardias
- Bradydysrhythmias
- Cardiac Arrest Care
- For the Faint of Heart: Cardiogenic Syncope
- Decompensated Heart Failure
- Smaller Hearts, Not Smaller Emergencies - Part 1 (Pediatric Cardiac Emergencies)
- Smaller Hearts, Not Smaller Emergencies - Part 2 (ECG Primer, Syncope, Myocarditis)
- Cardiotoxic Drugs of Abuse
- Don’t Just Do Something…Stand There
- STEMI Mimics You’ve Got to Know!
- Emergency Cardiology Update: The Articles You’ve Got to Know!
- Cardiogenic Shock
- Ripping It to Pieces: Acute Aortic Dissection
- Welcome to the Machine: Device Emergencies
- Potpourri
- Endovascular Therapy: State-of-the-Art Stroke Care
- Posterior Stroke
- Subarachnoid Hemorrhage…and Other Thunderclap Headaches
Watch or Listen Instantly and Earn Up to 12 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™
The Ultimate in Convenience to Meet Your Busy Schedule
- Don’t miss family / work obligations
- Avoid the expense and hassles of travel
- Available in a variety of formats to suit your needs
- Course content is accessible 24/7
Sample Lectures
Expand Your Knowledge of ECG Interpretation With the Optional ECG Workshop Presented by Amal Mattu, MD
Learn MoreMaster the Accurate Interpretation of ECGs and the Evidence-Based Care of the Acute Cardiac Patient.
Meet Our Expert Faculty
Our Energetic and Knowledgeable Faculty Will Provide You with State-of-the-Art Updates in Ways to Optimize the Care of the Acute Cardiac Patient.
Amer Aldeen, MD, FACEP
Dr. Amer Aldeen is Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of US Acute Care Solutions, responsible for education, safety, quality, innovation, risk management, recruiting, research, clinician engagement, and patient experience. He also serves as chair of the Clinician Assurance Risk Retention Group (CARRG) Board and was previously the vice chair of the National Clinical Governance Board and Executive Medical Director of the Center for Emergency Medical Education. Dr. Aldeen joined USACS in 2014 from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago where he had been Associate Medical Director and Associate Residency Director of emergency medicine. The Amer Aldeen Junior Faculty Teaching Award at Northwestern is named after him.
John Bedolla, MD, FACEP
Dr. John Bedolla is US Acute Care Solutions’ National Director of Risk. He previously served as Medical Director of Risk Management at Emergency Service Partners, now USACS South. His background includes extensive experience in peer review, state medical boards, and litigation. He has served in multiple academic roles, including clerkship director and research director at UT Southwestern and UT Austin. He is on the medical education faculty at University of Texas Dell Medical School in statistics, basic science, clinical skills and mechanisms of disease. He has authored multiple peer-reviewed articles in wide-ranging fields, from motorcycle races to resuscitation to terrorism, but always with an eye to probability analysis. He is active in ACEP where he chairs the National Medical Legal Committee.
Bart Besinger, MD, FAAEM
Dr. Bart Besinger is an Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and has been a full-time clinician-educator at Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, IN for over 20 years. He a member of the IUSM student promotions committee, was formerly the Associate Director and Methodist Site Coordinator for the MS-4 Emergency Medicine Clerkship. In addition to medical student education, his areas of interest include faculty development, syncope, biliary tract disease, and farm-related injuries. Dr. Besinger regularly lectures on a variety of emergency medicine topics regionally, nationally, and internationally.
Laura J. Bontempo, MD, MEd, FACEP, FAAEM
Dr. Laura Bontempo is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She received her medical degree from Northwestern University in 1994 and subsequently completed an emergency medicine residency at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. She spent 5 years at Harvard University as the Associate Emergency Medicine Program Director and then was recruited to Yale University to become the Emergency Medicine Program Director, a position she held for 7 years. Dr. Bontempo received a Master’s in Education degree with a concentration in health professional education from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She has received teaching awards in emergency medicine from Northwestern, Harvard and Yale Universities and the University of Maryland. Dr. Bontempo is published in multiple emergency medicine textbooks and has lectured nationally in the areas of cardiology and otolaryngology.
Jestin Carlson, MD, MS, MHA
Dr. Jestin Carlson serves as Chair of the Education Committee of the National Clinical Governance Board of US Acute Care Solutions. He is also the Director of Resident Research and Vice Chair for the Institutional Review Board for the Allegheny Health Network. Dr. Carlson has a focus on resuscitation research and education with over 150 manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals and currently sits on the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation/American Heart Association First Aid Task Force and the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Committee. Dr. Carlson earned his medical degree at State University of New York at Buffalo and completed his emergency medicine residency and a research fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, and Master of Healthcare Administration from Gannon University.
Megan Fix, MD
Dr. Megan Fix is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She serves as the Vice Chair of Education for emergency medicine as well as the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs for the medical school. In addition to her academic positions, she is heavily involved in local resident and medical student education as well as nationally involved in the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD) as well as multiple CME courses such as The Heart Course and the Difficult Airway Course. Dr. Fix has received several awards of recognition, including the “2020 ACEP National Emergency Medicine Faculty Teaching Award” and has published numerous papers focusing on medical education and airway management
Sujit Iyer, MD, FAAP
Dr. Sujit Iyer is the US Acute Care Solutions’ National Director of Pediatric Services. He also is an Assistant Medical Director for Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas where he practices as an emergency physician and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics. In addition, he has served as the Director for Pediatric ER Outreach for community emergency departments for Ascension Texas for the last two years. He is the Program Director of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship. He has served as a Clinical Instructor for the Departments of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and University of Pennsylvania. His research topics include numerous quality improvement projects, community pediatric ED preparedness, pediatric quality measure development and creation and implementation of evidence-based guidelines for the community and national use.
Amal Mattu, MD, FAAEM, FACEP
Dr. Amal Mattu is a frequent speaker on the national and international CME circuit on topics related to emergency cardiology and geriatrics. He is the author of the best-selling texts ECGs for the Emergency Physician Volume 1 and Volume 2, has served as Chief Editor for two other popular textbooks focused on errors in emergency medicine. In 1996, he joined the faculty of emergency medicine at the University of Maryland, and since that time he has received more than a dozen teaching awards, including Teacher of the Year from the University of Maryland at Baltimore, and National Teaching Awards from the American Academy of Emergency Medicine and the American College of Emergency Physicians. He currently is a tenured professor and Vice Chair of Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Peter S. Pang, MD, MS, FACEP, FACC, FAHA
Dr. Peter S. Pang serves as Rolly McGrath Professor and Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He also practices as a Staff Physician at Methodist and Eskenazi Hospitals (Indianapolis, USA). His primary research interest is acute heart failure, with over 160 peer-reviewed publications. He completed his training at the Brigham & Womans / Massachusetts General Hospital Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency after graduating from the University of Texas – San Antonio. After 10 years at Northwestern, where he served as Associate Chief and Director of Experimental Therapeutics, he moved to Indiana University in 2014 to further his research career. He was successfully awarded an R01 from AHRQ and an R34 from the NHLBI. He became Chair in October of 2020.
Testimonials
Don’t Just Take Our Word for It, See What Your Colleagues Are Saying About The Heart Course.
Amazing. The standard in EM education!
- Course ParticipantGreat information to help increase my knowledge and understanding. The ECG workshop was very helpful. I really enjoyed the course.
- Course ParticipantAll instructors were excellent, up-to-date on topics, interesting and kept the course moving along.
- Course Participant
I enjoyed all of the faculty and learned from each. I loved doing this via home on the computer at my own pace. much more relaxed.
- Course ParticipantFaculty very informative and easy to follow along!
- Course ParticipantExcellent speakers all around. Definitely one of the better conferences I have been to.
- Course Participant
All of the presentations met and exceeded my needs/expectations.
- Course ParticipantI thought all the speakers were great, material presented was relevant, and realistic.
- Course ParticipantAll the speakers were magnificent in their knowledge and delivery of information.
- Course Participant
Dr. Mattu is an excellent speaker and educator. He presents the material in a way that makes it accessible and easy to follow and understand.
- Course ParticipantEach lecture was short and to the point.
- Course ParticipantAmal Mattu is possibly the best lecturer I have seen in the field of medicine.
- Course Participant
The Heart Course
Self-Study CME Accreditation
The Center for Emergency Medical Education (CEME) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The Center for Emergency Medical Education (CEME) designates this self-study activity for a maximum of 12.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The AOA automatically recognizes AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ as AOA Category 2 credit.
Both PA and NP organizations recognize AMA PRA Category 1 credit™ as approved CME.
Target Audience
The Heart Course is intended for physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and advanced practice professionals that provide care to patients with acute cardiovascular problems.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this self-study program, participants will be able to:
- Discuss chest pain risk stratification by exploring the ins and outs of the Heart Score
- Identify the evidence-based strategies for the management of patients with acute coronary syndrome (STEMI, and UA/ NSTEMI), atrial fibrillation, heart failure, transient ischemic attack (TIA), stroke, and cerebral hemorrhage
- Describe the mechanisms of action and optimal evidence-based use of new and emerging cardiovascular medications, including new oral anticoagulants (NOAC) therapy and reversal agents
- Demonstrate state-of-the-art resuscitation strategies for patients presenting with cardiovascular emergencies
- Evaluate and initiate appropriate treatment strategies for high-risk, high-threat electrocardiography (ECG) findings and unusual dysrhythmias
- Discuss the emerging data on current and novel biomarkers in the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of cardiovascular disease
- Identify optimal antiplatelet and anticoagulant management strategies for patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), atrial fibrillation (AF), venous thromboembolism (VTE), and stroke
- Determine evidence-based best practices in the management of device-related emergencies in patients with cardiac disease, including ventricular assist devices (VADs), pacemakers, and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs)
- Discuss chest pain risk stratification by exploring the ins and outs of the Heart Score