Heart Failure

You are required to have an MBBS (Medical Bachelor & Bachelor in Surgery) or equivalent for applicants with qualifications from outside of the UK.

You are also required to have two years of postgraduate clinical experience in cardiology and a documented familiarity with heart failure. You may be asked to present evidence of competency that might include certification or a letter from your supervisor.

Heart failure is a growing epidemic and a rapidly evolving subspecialty within cardiology. Our Heart Failure MSc is a structured international teaching programme and the first of its kind.

The population of patients with heart failure is growing, and heart failure is now the leading cause of hospitalisation among adults over 65. An impressive advancement in the development of drugs and devices that prolong life expectancy in patients with heart failure has resulted in a significant demand for physicians with expertise in this important area.

While current awareness of heart failure among physicians is good, there remains a pressing need for experts to safely and effectively manage patients with this condition. Heart Failure MSc will provide you with a unique set of skills and knowledge to manage the increasingly complex patients with heart failure, developing you into a heart failure specialist.

The MSc consists of ten compulsory modules (12 credits each) and a research project with a thesis (60 credits). The course is designed to offer flexibility in order to accommodate the needs of professionals who have a requirement to complete their studies around their existing work commitments on a part-time basis. To allow greater flexibility a technology-rich model is used to deliver a significant proportion of learning materials online and provide resources to facilitate self-directed learning and reflective practice.

Each module will have an online component which the student will work through at their own pace with gated assessments to allow progression and acquire a solid foundation in the subject matter. Additional reading material will be provided for self-directed study and wider reading to develop insight into their own learning styles and become responsible for their professional development.

Assimilation of this knowledge will be underpinned by twice-monthly webinars and face-to-face sessions each year at St George’s, University of London to allow for balance with clinical work. These practical sessions allow students to benefit from direct contact with lecturers and other learners. These will be blended with 1-2 tutorials each day to consolidate the acquired knowledge. If required, the face-to-face sessions may need to be delivered online if there are any travel restrictions in place for overseas students.

The combination of strategies aims to enable our students to develop an investigative, independent and individualised approach to learning so that they can go on to undertake an extended research project with the intention of at least one publication.