Certification to do Cardiac Ablations

[TrialRun]

Hello.  I just got a second opinion after having had a cardiac ablation about 1-1/2 years ago for AF.  My previous electrophysiologist was not answering my questions, kept increasing my meds, and just was unhelpful in general.  When I went to the new electrophysiologist last week, he told me flat out that the previous electrophysiologist was not certified to do ablations.  My question is:  Is there a certain certification that an electrophysiologist has to have, other than a medical license, that allows him/her to do a cardiac ablation?  How can you find out if they have this certification?

[Darcy Green Conaway, MD]

1) is there a certification that an EP must have?
    yes, to be certified they are required to complete an least one year of extra training in electrophysiology after they train in internal medicine for three years and then in cardiology for 3 or 4 more years...so an EP has completed medical school, residency, subspecialty training in cardiology and then did more training in EP. Regarding certification, that is somewhat hospital dependent whether or not they require certification...but certification does not always mean they are the most experienced. For example, your first physician may be certified in EP but not know how to do ablations because they weren't being done when he/she trained. Ablations often require additional training beyond the normal EP training. You can always check to see who is certified by going to:
www.abim.org and typing in the physician name. If you know the name, type it in and then it will pull up the doctors with that name and tell what their certification is-- you need to have the name correct.

There are actually guidelines used and the EP guidelines for training in EP, Pacing and Arrhythmias were published in 2006 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Hope this helps