Objectives:

• Rejuvenation of cardiovascular bedside (and examining room) skills to improve patient care and reduce costs.
  
  
• To give the student, house officer and primary care physician a clearer insight into the relationship between the clinical manifestations of cardiovascular illness and the technology currently used to verify the patients' diagnosis.
  
  
• By the use of "Time-Outs", to couple an authentic clinical problem with historical, economic, medico-legal, ethical, and literary issues in order to broaden the perspective of the learner.

Pedagogic Strategy:

• Use only authentic case materials.
  
  
• Select cases that represent, in general, classic manifestations of diseases. Not the unusual.
  
  
• Produce a matrix of cases which will broadly reinforce each other and which can be used as reference materials by the learner after their initial review (e.g., Learning by Experience).
  
  
• Expert leads the learner by requiring correct identification, description, and verification of each diagnostic element before moving on. Didacticism is used selectively (No talking heads).