APP / NP / PA Curriculum

The mental model that turns a cardiology complaint into a safe next step: stability first, can’t-miss diagnoses, focused data, and the right test for the question.

How a cardiology clinic day actually flows — and where the APP adds value at each step, from chart prep to closing the loop on results.

How to run an inpatient cardiology consult — answer the actual question asked, round safely, communicate clearly, and know what goes to the attending.

A practical model for the highest-stakes APP skill: recognizing what can’t wait, escalating cleanly with SBAR, and never letting an unstable patient sit.

Write an assessment and plan that shows your clinical reasoning — problem-based, decision-driven, and defensible — without note bloat.

A focused, can’t-miss-oriented cardiac history — the questions that actually change your differential and disposition.

The high-yield cardiovascular exam and vitals that actually change cardiology decisions.

A systematic EKG read for APPs — rate, rhythm, intervals, ischemia, and the dangerous patterns to escalate stat.

Match the cardiac test to the clinical question — what each test answers, its limits, and what not to order.

Read the echo report like an APP — EF, wall motion, valves, diastology, and the findings that change management.

Troponin, BNP, BMP, CBC, lipids, and TSH — interpreted as part of the story, with the monitoring that keeps meds safe.

The major cardiac drug classes — what each is for, what it can do to a patient, and the monitoring that matters.

A structured approach to chest pain — rule out the can’t-miss diagnoses first, then risk-stratify and disposition.

Sort cardiac from non-cardiac dyspnea — recognize the can’t-miss causes and act safely.

From benign ectopy to dangerous arrhythmia — characterize, choose the right monitor, and catch the red flags.

Separate benign faints from dangerous ones — high-risk features, the workup, and who needs admission.

Work up leg swelling and pain — cardiac, venous, arterial, and systemic causes, and the can’t-miss limb emergencies.

A safe approach to the unexpected EKG finding — what’s dangerous, what’s new vs old, and what needs action now.

Answer the surgical team’s real question — peri-operative cardiac risk and optimization, not blanket "clearance."

Diagnose, classify, and manage hypertension — drug selection, titration, resistant/secondary HTN, and emergencies.

Risk-stratify and treat lipids — statin intensity, LDL thresholds, add-on agents, and the role of CAC.

Diagnose and manage stable CAD — medical therapy, anti-anginals, risk-factor control, and when to refer.

HFrEF, HFpEF, and HFmrEF — diagnosis, GDMT, diuretic titration, monitoring, and decompensation.

The three pillars — rate control, rhythm control, and stroke prevention — plus cardioversion logic.

Recognize, monitor, and triage the common valve lesions — and know when symptomatic severe disease needs referral.

Diagnose and manage peripheral arterial and carotid disease — medical targets, claudication, CLTI, and referral.

CEAP, conservative management, and the ablation pathway — plus distinguishing venous from DVT and arterial disease.

Recognize pulmonary hypertension, understand the groups, and know when (and to whom) to refer.

Work up the admitted chest-pain patient — serial troponin/EKG, ACS vs other causes, and when to escalate.

Distinguish the troponin elevations that change management — plaque rupture vs supply-demand vs injury.

Congestion vs perfusion, IV diuresis, precipitants, and disposition for the decompensated HF patient.

Stabilize rapid AFib — unstable vs stable, rate control choices, finding the driver, and anticoagulation.

Recognize dangerous conduction disease — the AV blocks, reversible causes, and when pacing is needed.

Decide who needs admission for syncope and run the inpatient evaluation safely.

Answer the surgical team’s real question for the inpatient — risk, optimization, and a clear med plan.

Peri-procedural anticoagulation — weigh thrombotic vs bleeding risk, hold/bridge correctly, and restart safely.

Safe transitions that prevent bouncebacks — criteria, med reconciliation, teaching, and follow-up.

Run and support a code — high-quality CPR, the shockable vs non-shockable fork, reversible causes, and the unstable peri-arrest patient.

The ICU drips demystified — the receptors behind the drugs, pressors vs inotropes, starting doses, first-line agents by shock type, and how to titrate safely to a goal.

Severe BP WITH acute organ damage — how it differs from urgency, the bedside workup, the IV agents and doses, the controlled-reduction rule, and the dangerous exceptions.

The can’t-miss chest-pain mimic — recognize it, image it, classify it, start anti-impulse therapy (with doses), and anticipate the complications without the classic traps.

Acute pericarditis through to tamponade — the diagnostic criteria and EKG stages, NSAID + colchicine dosing, myopericarditis, the Beck’s-triad emergency with its echo signs, and why you must not diurese a tamponade.

The fever-plus-murmur consult — when to suspect it, cultures-before-antibiotics, the modified Duke criteria, empiric therapy principles, the surgical triggers, right-sided IE, and who actually needs prophylaxis.

The daily IMCU/ICU skill — read a strip systematically with the normal intervals, name the rhythm and the AV blocks, recognize torsades, separate artifact from emergency, and respond to the patient not the monitor.

Understand the coronary tree and what happens in the cath lab — enough to follow up, spot complications, and escalate.

Interpret the cath report as an APP — stenosis severity, vessel terminology, FFR/iFR, and the plan.

Balloons, stents, atherectomy, IVUS/OCT, and FFR/iFR — concepts, complications, and the all-important DAPT.

Endovascular treatment of peripheral disease — indications, concepts, complications, and follow-up.

PPM, ICD, CRT, and loop recorders — indications, recognition, and triage (not programming).

What TAVR, Watchman, and related structural procedures do — who they’re for, and follow-up.

Recognize cardiogenic shock early, understand support concepts, and escalate fast.

Read right-heart-cath numbers conceptually — filling pressures, output, and what they tell you.