Training

How do I train as a Cardiac Physiologist?

The course in Ireland is now a Degree in Clinical Measurement. This is run by the School of Physics in the Dublin Institute of Technology. Check out details of the course at this link http://www.physics.dit.ie/programmes/clinicalmeasurement.html

In Northern Ireland there students take a Degree in Clinical Physiology with is run by the University of Ulster at Jordanstown. Details of the course can be access at http://prospectus.ulster.ac.uk/course/?id=2381

What is the Clinical Measurement course?

Clinical Measurement is the science behind measurements of physiological signals from the human body. In the first two years of the course, the students are taught how measurements are made, how physiology affects the signals, and how patients are treated for clinical problems. The third year of the course can include up to 25 weeks of hospital internship in hospitals around the country. In the final year of the course students can receive further hospital based training. The students are taught advanced clinical and measurement science, with a clinical based research project for 2 months.

Clinical Measurement looks at how to measure things like:

• ECG (electrical activity of the heart) e.g. in patients with coronary heart disease
• Blood flow using ultrasound e.g. in patients with vascular disease
• pH in the stomach and intestines e.g. in patients with reflux disease
• EEG (brainwaves) e.g. to test for epilepsy and motor neurone disease
• Air pressure and flow from the lungs e.g. in patients with asthma