possible to have a practice that does both interventional and general cardiology?

[tas8w]

Hi folks,

Its my first time posting here but am loving cardiac pathophys right now (second year med student) and wanted to get some more ideas about potential practice options for the cardiologist.

I am interested in interventional cardiology (I love being able to fix a problem directly) but am wondering if you have to give up the diagnostic and more cerebral aspects of medicine as an interventionalist due to practical/time limitations. My ideal career would involve an academic setting with diagnosis of complex problems, some acute/critical care, and interventional procedures. Do interventional cardiologists mostly see patients who have already been diagnosed and just need a procedure done? Is there still room for the other aspects of cardiology in an interventionalist's practice? Is it possible to split a practice between traditional cardiology and interventional procedures - perhaps doing interventional ~25-50% of the time and the rest spent in diagnostic and ICU/acute care settings?

Sorry if these are naive questions. Thanks!

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[augmel]

i worked in a private practice cards clinic before med school. 3 cardiologists in a multi-specialty clinic, and that is exactly what they did. i think that is standard for private practice. it is only in academics that you have to focus your practice more.

 

[augmel]

sorry i missed the part about wanting to be in academics. i don't know for sure but in my experience academics means being an expert in a relatively limited subset of your specialty. maybe not, though.
i should also mention that the practice i was at was attached to the hospital too which made it a lot easier to run between clinic, cath lab, cicu, echo reading, etc.