Cadre Cardiovascular Medicine Department

【Overview】

The Department of Cadre Cardiovascular Medicine is an authorized degree-granting site for doctoral and master’s degrees in geriatric medicine and for master’s degrees in general medicine. The department currently has 8 officially appointed physicians and 13 nurses. Among them are 1 professor, 4 associate professors, 5 chief physicians, 3 deputy chief physicians, 3 doctors of medicine, and 5 masters of medicine. There is 1 doctoral supervisor and 4 master’s supervisors. The ward has 28 official beds; its scope of diagnosis and treatment covers various cardiovascular diseases in middle-aged and older adults, some conditions requiring routine cardiovascular interventional treatment, and common diseases related to general medicine. Over the past two years, annual outpatient visits have exceeded 17,000, and annual discharges have exceeded 800. The department participates in teaching geriatric medicine, clinical diagnostics, general medicine, and other subjects, and has trained many postgraduate students over the years. Its research has received the Anhui Science and Technology Progress Award on multiple occasions. The department has successively led dozens of research projects funded by the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation and by various departments and commissions within Anhui Province, and has held the Anhui Province Primary-Level Chronic Disease Prevention and Control Appropriate Technology Teacher Training Course for 10 consecutive years.

【Discipline Development and Evolution】

In 1955, Anhui Medical College established a cadre ward with 5 beds in the west small building of the Second Affiliated Hospital (the present site of the Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine). Medical services were managed by the Department of General Internal Medicine; Chen Zuli was the department director, physicians rotated through the ward, and Yang Renmin, Ou Keren, and others participated in the work of the cadre ward. During the Cultural Revolution, the cadre ward was abolished. In 1979, after the Cultural Revolution, the cadre ward was restored on the third floor of the Burns Department building, encompassing internal medicine, surgery, and other departments, with internal medicine as the main focus, for a total of 22 beds. During this period, in 1974, with the assistance of Director Huang Yuanzhu of Nanjing Medical College, Huang Guangwen conducted animal and clinical experiments on external cardiac pacing. In 1976, Chen Qinian, Sun Guihua, Zhu Huaixi, and others fitted patients with external pacemakers. In the spring of 1984, the cadre ward moved into the cadre ward building (now the Infectious Diseases Department building), becoming an independent unit with a total of five floors; the first floor housed outpatient services, and the 2nd through 5th floors housed wards with a total of 100 beds, with internal medicine and surgery separated. In the autumn of 1984, the second-floor ward area of the cadre ward (including the CCU on the first floor) was officially established as a ward, mainly admitting cardiovascular patients. In 1985, Huang Guangwen, Huang Qizhi, and others implanted permanent pacemakers in patients. In 1986, Zhu Huaixi, Tang Haiqin, and others carried out invasive electrophysiological examinations, such as recording invasive cardiac His-bundle electrograms, and interventional cardiac procedures, such as cardiac biopsy. In the autumn of 1995, the department established a monitored ward with 4 beds to admit cardiovascular patients. In 1997, the department organized the first provincial continuing education course in geriatric medicine. At the end of 1997, it successfully applied to establish a master’s program in geriatric medicine and established the Teaching and Research Section of Geriatric Medicine. In 1998, it began performing coronary angiography; in 2000, coronary balloon dilatation + stenting; and in 2005, it successfully implanted implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) in patients. The department now routinely performs coronary interventions and pacemaker procedures. In August 2000, it moved to the fourth floor of the Cadre Healthcare Center and was officially named the Department of Cadre Cardiovascular Medicine, with a total of 28 beds (including 8 cardiovascular monitoring beds). The department is equipped with modern medical, resuscitation, and diagnostic equipment, including a cardiovascular monitoring system, defibrillators, non-invasive ventilators, temporary pacemakers, a bedside radiography machine, and necessary emergency equipment. Using advanced service concepts, the medical staff provide patients with high-quality services. At present, the department admits an average of more than 800 inpatients each year and rescues more than 50 critically ill patients annually; it has successfully treated provincial-level healthcare cadres many times and achieved a favorable social impact.

In 2000, the geriatric cardiovascular disease specialty began enrolling master’s students; in 2010, it began enrolling doctoral students in geriatric cardiovascular disease; and in 2013, it began enrolling postgraduate students in general medicine, training several postgraduate students each year. In 2013, the Teaching and Research Section of General Medicine was established, and in the same year the department became a clinical training base for general practitioners of the National Health and Family Planning Commission. In 2014, a general medicine outpatient clinic was opened, and in 2015, the Department of General Medicine was established. Each year, the department holds provincial medical continuing education training courses on chronic disease prevention and control, continues to strengthen guidance and cooperation with numerous prefecture-level, city-level, and community hospitals throughout the province, and organizes dozens of popular science lectures on medical care and the prevention and control of common chronic diseases, as well as free-clinic activities in various forms, achieving very good results. Over the years, it has applied for and completed multiple national- and provincial-level research projects and published dozens of academic papers.