Results from a survey about interest in cardiac developmental biology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Participants included cardiologists, pediatricians, nurses and other professionals who care for patients with congenital heart disease.

1. Cardiac Developmental Biology & Genetics - Initial Survey - Google Docs 3/29/10 1:42 PM
121 responses
Summary See complete responses
What is your current position?
Attending pediatric cardiologist 14 12%
Attending physician (not cardiology) 0 0%
Nurse 30 25%
Technical Staff (e.g. echocardiographer, ECG technician, laboratory technician) 0 0%
Administrative Staff 0 0%
Fellow in pediatric cardiology 8 7%
Fellow in another sub-specialty 9 7%
Resident physician 35 29%
Medical student 1 1%
Graduate student 0 0%
Post-doctoral fellow 1 1%
Other 23 19%
How much of your clinical time do you spend caring for patients with, or suspected of having,
congenital heart diseases (CHDs)?
All or nearly all 48 40%
Most 10 8%
Some 48 40%
None or almost none 11 9%
Do not perform clinical work 4 3%
Describe your level of understanding of how the heart develops before birth and your comfort level in describing to patients and families the impact on CHDs.
Deep understanding of heart development and very comfortable in describing it to patients and families. 12 10%
Some understanding of heart development and reasonably comfortable in describing it to patients and families. 55 45%
Vague understanding of heart development and slightly uncomfortable in describing it to patients and families. 34 28%
Poor understanding of heart development and very uncomfortable in describing it to patients and families. 19 16%
Not applicable (do not interact with patients and/or families) 1 1%
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2. How often do you discuss genetics during your initial encounter with patients and families affected by CHDs?
Always or nearly always 11 9%
Usually 13 11%
Sometimes 34 28%
Rarely/never 50 41%
Not applicable 13 11%
Would you like to learn more about cardiac developmental biology and genetics?
Yes 105 87%
No 3 2%
Not sure 13 11%
What are your primary sources of information about cardiac developmental biology and genetics?
Textbooks 79 65%
Review articles 53 44%
Original research (journal articles) 26 21%
Lectures 60 50%
Professional meetings 31 26%
Websites 54 45%
Colleagues 57 47%
Other 3 2%
People may select more than one checkbox,
so percentages may add up to more than
100%.
How much time do you personally spend each month learning about cardiac developmental biology or genetics?
More than 12 hours per month (3 hours/week) 13 11%
8-12 hours per month (2-3 hours/week) 2 2%
4-8 hours per month (1-2 hours/week) 5 4%
Less than 4 hours per month (0-1 hours/week) 44 36%
None or nearly none 57 47%
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3. What limits your learning about cardiac developmental biology and genetics?
Not enough time 89 74%
Not relevant clinically 32 26%
Sources are difficult to understand 29 24%
Do not know any good sources of relevant information 34 28%
Topic too hard to understand 14 12%
Other 7 6%
People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may
add up to more than 100%.
What characteristics of a learning resource in cardiac developmental biology and genetics would be important to you (please select all relevant
answers)?
Ablity to access at any time 93 77%
Ability to access from outside of work 67 55%
Multimedia (e.g. videos, audio) 56 46%
Interactivity (e.g. comments, discussion forums with instructors and other learners) 36 30%
Clinical relevance (e.g. examples of actual patients or cases) 94 78%
Renowned instructors (e.g. nationally recognized) 17 14%
Other 4 3%
People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.
Do you have any other comments or questions?
This is an under-represented topic in our curriculum, especially considering all the new research going into the
field. Would like to be updated once every 1-2 years on this, including recurrence risks, associated mutations,
available genetic screening (or which patients should have it), etc. Nice to see that someone is considering formalizing
our (ie the division's) education in this area. esciencenews.com is composed using a bot. Good idea fraz Great
idea to incorporate this in the curriculum for fellowship. no I would distinguish between comfort
level/interest/knowledge of cardiac developmenta ...
Number of daily responses
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