What to Expect at Your First Appointment at the Cardiomyopathy Clinic
It can be devastating to hear that your child has cardiomyopathy (heart disease). Your child may not even be exhibiting symptoms. But you should know cardiomyopathy can be treated. The type of treatment your child will need depends on which type of cardiomyopathy they have and how serious it is.
To treat cardiomyopathy, your child may need an exercise regimen, a healthy diet, drug therapy or regular cardiac evaluation. In some cases, they may need cardiothoracic surgery or a heart transplant. No matter what your child needs, our multidisciplinary care team will provide comprehensive treatment at one location. No need to run around town to various providers — your child can get the best care from the Cincinnati Children’s Cardiomyopathy Clinic.
You may be worried about passing along genetic heart disease to your children. If you are, we can perform genetic screening for you and your family members to identify the risk. The results can be very influential in helping you make decisions for your and your family’s future.
The team at Cardiomyopathy Clinic will do everything we can to make each visit as comfortable as possible for you and your child.
Making an Appointment at the Cardiomyopathy Clinic
For more information about the Cardiomyopathy and Advanced Heart Failure Clinic or to schedule an appointment, please contact us.
Before Your Appointment
To prepare for your visit, please send us your child’s health records and any relevant family medical records and autopsy reports.
This information is important for us to provide you with a comprehensive assessment of your child’s condition.
Your care team must also know about all prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, vitamins, and herbal and nutritional supplements your child takes.
On the Day of Your Visit to the Cardiomyopathy Clinic
Please let us know in advance if you or your child have special needs or concerns; we will do our best to accommodate them.
Arriving at Your Appointment
The Cardiomyopathy Clinic is located at the Cincinnati Children’s Burnet Campus. We recommend arriving at least 30 minutes before your scheduled appointment time to find parking, walk to the clinic and register.
Please note that because the clinic is so busy, we watch our schedule closely. If you arrive more than 30 minutes late for your appointment, your child may not be seen in the order in which you arrive. In some cases, you will need to reschedule.
Because of the complexity of our patients’ conditions, delays in appointment times are sometimes unavoidable. However, we will make every attempt to see you and your child promptly and will keep you informed of any delays.
We will also try to accommodate your request to see a specific physician. However, if an emergency or illness occurs, another physician on our team will meet with you and your child.
At Your Appointment
Plan to spend at least 3 hours at the Cardiomyopathy Clinic during your first visit — you and your child will meet with multiple specialists.
Your child will have a complete nursing evaluation. The care team may also order tests, including an EKG, echocardiogram, exercise stress test, laboratory tests or cardiac MRI during the first visit. You may also see a pharmacist and a genetic counselor.
At the end of the visit, your care team will discuss their evaluation and prescribe a comprehensive treatment plan for your child.
After Your Visit to the Cardiomyopathy Clinic
Once you’ve received your child’s initial care plan, you may need to make follow-up appointments. Follow-up appointments usually last about 2 hours unless your child needs additional testing.
We believe information plays a vital role in treating your child’s heart condition. The Heart Encyclopedia is a helpful resource to answer your questions regarding the heart and heart disease and disorders. Funds from the Children's Heart Association of Cincinnati helped create this encyclopedia.
