Lifestyle of an invasive, non-interventional Cardiologist?

[JA93]

I'm a junior in high school, and I'm interested in becoming an invasive, non interventional cardiologist and I need some help on a few questions:

1. How many hours a day does an invasive, non interventional cardiologist work?
2. Does an invasive, non interventional cardiologist work on weekends?
3. Is an invasive, non interventional cardiologist always on call, even in the middle of the night? If so, is that every night?

Any help would be much appreciated.

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[lord_jeebus]

Why would you want to be the kind of cardiologist where you subject your patients to a cardiac catheterization, which is not without risk, yet if you find a problem that one of your colleagues/competitors could fix on the spot, you have to send the patient to a colleague/competitor to repeat the catheterization to place the stent?

I can understand that an established (read: old) cardiologist who never learned how to place a stent could have such a practice, but why would you make that your goal?

 

[penguin24]

You have a long way to go, but generally Cardiologists work a lot. I don't know the intricacies that well to differentiate invasive/interventional/etc cards from each other, but they all work a lot. I bet most of them work weekends. The thing about medicine is that you join a group of doctors in your specialty & you guys make your own rules (thus vacation/weekends/call can vary widely depending on how many ppl are in your group).

Ex. if a few Cardiologists cover several hospitals then you work many weekends/nights, but if you have lots of Cardiologists covering a smaller hospital then it could be a more relaxing lifestyle.

Cardiologists make bank and work many hours, and so tend to attract more males than females. (the reason behind this is beyond the scope of your question). Generally cardiologists get called many times in the middle of the night, but I don't know specifically about invasive-non interventional, since many of the calls have to do w/ doing an emergency angiography/angioplasty (which would be interventional).

If you are concerned about having a full family life w/ lots of free time to pursue other interests, then don't become a Cardiologist. If you want to make a lot of money & don't mind the sacrifices that it entails, then do it.

 

[JA93]

Why would you want to be the kind of cardiologist where you subject your patients to a cardiac catheterization, which is not without risk, yet if you find a problem that one of your colleagues/competitors could fix on the spot, you have to send the patient to a colleague/competitor to repeat the catheterization to place the stent?

I can understand that an established (read: old) cardiologist who never learned how to place a stent could have such a practice, but why would you make that your goal?

Nothing is set in stone for me, I'm just looking at my options right now.

 

[JA93]

You have a long way to go, but generally Cardiologists work a lot. I don't know the intricacies that well to differentiate invasive/interventional/etc cards from each other, but they all work a lot. I bet most of them work weekends. The thing about medicine is that you join a group of doctors in your specialty & you guys make your own rules (thus vacation/weekends/call can vary widely depending on how many ppl are in your group).

Ex. if a few Cardiologists cover several hospitals then you work many weekends/nights, but if you have lots of Cardiologists covering a smaller hospital then it could be a more relaxing lifestyle.

Cardiologists make bank and work many hours, and so tend to attract more males than females. (the reason behind this is beyond the scope of your question). Generally cardiologists get called many times in the middle of the night, but I don't know specifically about invasive-non interventional, since many of the calls have to do w/ doing an emergency angiography/angioplasty (which would be interventional).

If you are concerned about having a full family life w/ lots of free time to pursue other interests, then don't become a Cardiologist. If you want to make a lot of money & don't mind the sacrifices that it entails, then do it.

Thanks for the help, I don't mind working long hours, but I would like to have weekends off.

 

[nlax30]

Thanks for the help, I don't mind working long hours, but I would like to have weekends off.

Well, I would think that most people would WANT weekends off, but there are just very few fields in medicine, or any career for that matter, where that would be a realistic/practical goal.

Unless you're setting your own hours and not taking call then it's going to be part of the job to do some nights, weekends, and holidays.

lord_jeebus: Not everyone wants the schedule/life of an interventionalist. Doesn't mean he has to do diagnostic caths or that doing those is a "bad" thing. Could still do pacers, TEE's, etc...

That being said, back to the OP, while it's good to start thinking ahead, you have quite a while to go and I'd be willing to bet you change your mind at least a couple times. There's not going to be a set in stone answer to those questions because each practice is a little different.

Unless you go into a field that would be purely "shift work" then pretty much count on taking some sort of call, certainly not EVERY day, but if you're in a small or even solo practice and you have a patient in the hospital then you're going to get called no matter what time it is unless you work out some sort of coverage schedule with other physicians.

I'm actually planning on cardiology at this point and from the docs I've been around they are happy, enjoy their field, don't necessarily work any more than most other sub-specialties on average, and seem to have time for hobbies and family life. Ultimately I'd probably like to do an interventional year but that's still a while away for me.

 

[lord_jeebus]

lord_jeebus: Not everyone wants the schedule/life of an interventionalist. Doesn't mean he has to do diagnostic caths or that doing those is a "bad" thing. Could still do pacers, TEE's, etc...

Do "invasive, noninterventional" cardiologists place pacers and other implantable devices routinely? I'm sure you know more than I do about this terminology.

 

[JA93]

Well, I would think that most people would WANT weekends off, but there are just very few fields in medicine, or any career for that matter, where that would be a realistic/practical goal.

Unless you're setting your own hours and not taking call then it's going to be part of the job to do some nights, weekends, and holidays.

lord_jeebus: Not everyone wants the schedule/life of an interventionalist. Doesn't mean he has to do diagnostic caths or that doing those is a "bad" thing. Could still do pacers, TEE's, etc...

That being said, back to the OP, while it's good to start thinking ahead, you have quite a while to go and I'd be willing to bet you change your mind at least a couple times. There's not going to be a set in stone answer to those questions because each practice is a little different.

Unless you go into a field that would be purely "shift work" then pretty much count on taking some sort of call, certainly not EVERY day, but if you're in a small or even solo practice and you have a patient in the hospital then you're going to get called no matter what time it is unless you work out some sort of coverage schedule with other physicians.

I'm actually planning on cardiology at this point and from the docs I've been around they are happy, enjoy their field, don't necessarily work any more than most other sub-specialties on average, and seem to have time for hobbies and family life. Ultimately I'd probably like to do an interventional year but that's still a while away for me.

Appreciate the response. I know Cardiology is a "work-aholic" field, and I'm aware that taking calls in the middle of the night is part of the gig. As long as I have a some weekends off, I'll be good to go. Thanks, again.

 

[nlax30]

Do "invasive, noninterventional" cardiologists place pacers and other implantable devices routinely? I'm sure you know more than I do about this terminology.

I'll have to ask/look it up again, but last time I was talking a cardio fellow friend of mine it seemed like there were some limitations, that they could place pacers but not ICD's.... that's what I remember at least.

But I kind of agree with you earlier, not sure how much cath I'd want to do if I couldn't also intervene.