Cathal Breen
cathal breen

Prof Cathal Breen

Professor

 0131 455 5214

  C.Breen@napier.ac.uk

   

About me

Biography

Professor Cathal Breen, a distinguished Clinical Scientist of Cardiac Physiology at Edinburgh Napier University, has built an exemplary career that seamlessly integrates clinical practice, academic scholarship, and educational innovation, with a significant focus on clinical research in cardiac physiology and medical education. With nearly two decades of experience, his career trajectory provides valuable insights for aspiring academics, healthcare educators, clinical researchers, and professionals in medical and allied health fields. Professor Breen’s career is grounded in his clinical expertise as a board-certified Cardiac Physiologist, which informs his academic and research endeavors. At Edinburgh Napier University, he combines teaching, research, and leadership to advance healthcare education and clinical practice. His work focuses on preparing medical, nursing, and allied health students for clinical roles through innovative pedagogy while contributing to clinical research that enhances diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in cardiac care. His dual expertise in clinical practice and academia positions him as a leader in bridging theoretical knowledge with practical application.

He currently leads the simulation and clinical skills department at Edinburgh Napier which facilitates Nursing, Midwifery, Allied Health Professions and Social Work professions education and research. Cathal holds an Honorary Research Consultant position, NHS Lothian, Scotland.
External roles include:
Clinical Facilitator Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency (NIMDTA).
Associate of the National School of Healthcare Sciences, Higher Education England, UK.
Cardiac and Vascular physiology theme lead, The Physiological Society, UK & Ireland.
Cardiac Devices Specialist Group Member, Public Health Scotland, Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme (SCAP).
External examiner, new Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Medical technologies at TUS (formerly Limerick Institute of Technology) (until 2024).
External examiner, BSc Hons Healthcare Science (Cardiology), PGCert Cardiac Device and Rhythm Management and PGCert Echocardiography, The Medical School, University of Leeds, UK (until 2024)
External examiner, PhD examiner, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR CRN), University of Leeds, Leeds, UK (currently).
External examiner, Certificate of Healthcare Science, City, London, UK (until 2023)
Member of faculty Academy of Healthcare Science, Leicestershire, UK (currently)
Member of faculty National School for Healthcare Science, Birmingham, UK (currently)

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48 results

A clinical decision support tool to assist with the interpretation of the 12-lead electrocardiogram

Journal Article
Breen, C., Bond, R., & Finlay, D. (2019)
A clinical decision support tool to assist with the interpretation of the 12-lead electrocardiogram. Health Informatics Journal, 25(1), 51-61. https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458216683534
This article reports the design and testing of a novel interactive method, abbreviated to ANALYSE (systemAtic aNALYsiS of Electrocardiography) to assist interpretation of 12-l...

Data Driven Computer Simulation to Analyse an ECG Limb Lead System Used in Connected Health Environments

Journal Article
Bond, R., Finlay, D. D., Guldenring, D., & Breen, C. (2016)
Data Driven Computer Simulation to Analyse an ECG Limb Lead System Used in Connected Health Environments. Methods of Information in Medicine, 55(03), 258-265. https://doi.org/10.3414/me15-01-0120
Background: Recently under the Connected Health initiative, researchers and small-medium engineering companies have developed Electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring devices that i...

A novel human-computer interface creating a framework for the cognitive ergonomics of ECG interpretation

Presentation / Conference
Cairns, A., Bond, R. R., Finlay, D., Breen, C., Guldenring, D., Gaffney, R., …Peace, A. (2016, October)
A novel human-computer interface creating a framework for the cognitive ergonomics of ECG interpretation. Poster presented at Irish Human Computer Interaction Conference, Cork
Predominantly the 12-lead Electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation process remains a paper based approach. However, the ECG in this format creates a significant cognitive worklo...

A computer-human interaction model to improve the diagnostic accuracy and clinical decision-making during 12-lead electrocardiogram interpretation

Journal Article
Cairns, A. W., Bond, R. R., Finlay, D. D., Breen, C., Guldenring, D., Gaffney, R., …Henn, P. (2016)
A computer-human interaction model to improve the diagnostic accuracy and clinical decision-making during 12-lead electrocardiogram interpretation. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 64, 93-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2016.09.016
Introduction The 12-lead Electrocardiogram (ECG) presents a plethora of information and demands extensive knowledge and a high cognitive workload to interpret. Whilst the ECG ...

The evaluation of an open source online training system for teaching 12 lead electrocardiographic interpretation

Journal Article
Breen, C., Zhu, T., Bond, R., Finlay, D., & Clifford, G. (2016)
The evaluation of an open source online training system for teaching 12 lead electrocardiographic interpretation. Journal of Electrocardiology, 49(3), 454-461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2016.02.003
Introduction The aim of this study is to present and evaluate the integration of a low resource JavaScript based ECG training interface (CrowdLabel) and a standardised curricu...

Interactive progressive-based approach to aid the human interpretation of the 12-lead Electrocardiogram

Conference Proceeding
Cairns, A. W., Bond, R. R., Finlay, D. D., Breen, C. J., Guldenring, D., Gaffney, R., …Peace, A. J. (2015)
Interactive progressive-based approach to aid the human interpretation of the 12-lead Electrocardiogram. In 2015 Computing in Cardiology Conference (CinC). https://doi.org/10.1109/cic.2015.7408620
The 12-lead Electrocardiogram (ECG) is an important diagnostic support tool but is frequently incorrectly interpreted. This is partly due to the fact that even expert clinicia...

Diagnosis of the Electrocardiogram Using a Smartphone

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Martin, E., Nugent, C., Bond, R., Finlay, D., & Breen, C. (2014, May)
Diagnosis of the Electrocardiogram Using a Smartphone. Presented at 2014 IEEE 27th International Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems (CBMS), New York, NY, USA
Electrocardiograms can be used for diagnosing various cardiac conditions. They are traditionally printed as a hard copy on thermal graph paper, which a clinician can then use ...

An evaluation of eye tracking technology in the assessment of 12 lead electrocardiography interpretation

Journal Article
Breen, C. J., Bond, R., & Finlay, D. (2014)
An evaluation of eye tracking technology in the assessment of 12 lead electrocardiography interpretation. Journal of Electrocardiology, 47(6), 922-929. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2014.08.008
Introduction This study investigated eye tracking technology for 12 lead electrocardiography interpretation to Healthcare Scientist students. Methods Participants (n = 33) in...

Assessing computerized eye tracking technology for gaining insight into expert interpretation of the 12-lead electrocardiogram: an objective quantitative approach

Journal Article
Bond, R., Zhu, T., Finlay, D., Drew, B., Kligfield, P., Guldenring, D., …Clifford, G. (2014)
Assessing computerized eye tracking technology for gaining insight into expert interpretation of the 12-lead electrocardiogram: an objective quantitative approach. Journal of Electrocardiology, 47(6), 895-906. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2014.07.011
Introduction It is well known that accurate interpretation of the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) requires a high degree of skill. There is also a moderate degree of variabili...

Recording a standard 12 - lead electrocardiogram. An approved methodology by the Society of Cardiological Science and Technology (SCST). Clinical guidelines by consensus.

Other
Baxter, S., Blackman, S., Breen, C., Brown, C., Campbell, B., Cox, C., …Ross, C. (2014)
Recording a standard 12 - lead electrocardiogram. An approved methodology by the Society of Cardiological Science and Technology (SCST). Clinical guidelines by consensus
Projects

Pre-Napier Funded Projects

  • Wellcome Trust Arts Awards
Post Grad

Current Post Grad projects

Non-Napier PhD or MSc by Research supervisions

  • The role of invasive cardiopulmonary exercise testing as a diagnostic tool for people with suspected heart failure
  • An evaluation of physical activity induced reductions in epicardial fat thickness and atrial fibrillation incidence.
  • Can sensory integration have a role in multi‐element behavioural intervention? An evaluation of factors associated with the management of challenging behaviour in community adult learning disability services
  • Enhancement of the student learning experience during clinical placement using technology-assisted social constructivism.
  • Concomitantly Programmed Atrial Anti-tachycardia Pacing (aATP) and Atrial Tachyarrhythmia Prevention Pacing (APP) Algorithms to reduce Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Burden in Patients with Implantable Dual Chamber Pacemakers: A systematic review.
  • The role of echocardiographic strain and strain rate imaging in discriminating non obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy from physiological and hypertensive LVH.
  • To determine the beneficial effects of right ventricular septal cardiac pacing vs right ventricular apical pacing on left ventricular function as measured by ejection fraction using echocardiography: A systematic review of randomised controlled trials in patients requiring chronic ventricular pacing with preserved LV function
  • Inappropriate therapy in patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators: A systematic critical review.