A multi-center cardiovascular magnetic resonance network for tele-training, tele-supervision and knowledge sharing

Background

Training of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is an important topic in times of growing acceptance of the method for accurate diagnosis and management of cardiovascular disease. However, off-site trainings are becoming less acceptable with increasing cost and time pressure. Here we introduce a novel CMR network, capable of partially remote CMR training and continuous remote expert support.

Methods

Conceptual, technical and content-related characteristics of our teaching methods are introduced. 97 participants of traditional fellowship CMR teaching and the novel module-based network teaching were surveyed to assess their CMR performance.

Results

The number of hospitals in our CMR network increased from 5 in 2009 to 14 in 2014. 79% of network hospitals conducted more than 100 CMR scans annually. (Fig. 1) Among these network hospitals are four small institutions (< 400 beds) and five medium-sized hospitals (400-1000 beds). Network teaching reduced off-site CMR training to only five weeks. The time to first self-conducted CMR scans was one week in network teaching but more than one month for 32% of participants in traditional CMR teaching. The CMR network enables experts from distant locations to supervise and control CMR scans in a distant hospital in real-time. (Fig. 2)

Figure 1

CMR network expansion between December 2009 and June 2014.

Figure 2

Illustration of the CMR network architecture.

Conclusions

A CMR network can be built with reasonable amount of technical and man power-related resources. It provides an efficient teaching platform with minimum off-site time for trainees. Real-time remote supervision and scan control capabilities support the decentralization of CMR expertise and enable even small and rurally located institutions to offer CMR scans at high-quality level.