I’m a rising M2, and I genuinely know nothing about match, etc, and I was hoping someone could truly dumb it down for me. If I would like to become a cardiologist in the future, what are my next steps. I was reading somewhere that I’d have to match into internal medicine(?) and then apply for a cardiology fellowship, but are there any other specialities I could match into?
Thanks!
Here's pretty much all you need to know as a medical student thinking about Cardiology:
One can practice Cardiology after completing a 3 year Cardiovascular Medicine Fellowship which one becomes eligible for after completing a 3 year Internal Medicine residency. Admission into Cardiovascular Medicine fellowship is competitive. Selection is based on the following factors:
Tier 1 factors) Internal Medicine Residency Reputation and Scholarly work in Cardiology
Tier 2 factors) References/Contacts you made, Your Medical Education Profile (med school, prior step exams, etc.)
You apply to Cardiovascular Medicine fellowship in late year 2 of IM residency at which point you need to have letters of reference from Cardiologists, evidence of scholarly work, and good standing in your IM program lined up. If you opt not to pursue Cardiology, other fellowships people choose in loose order of competitiveness are 1.) Gastroenterology 2.) Allergy/Immunology 3.) Hematology/Oncology 4.) Pulmonology/Critical Care 5.) Rheumatology 6.) Others- Infectious Disease, Nephrology, Endocrinology, as well as some shorter fellowships like Palliative Medicine, Sleep Medicine, Sports Medicine, and a few others.
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Note: A board certified cardiologist just out of cardiology fellowship has competence in echocardiography and
diagnostic investigation of coronary arteries (with IV contrast) in addition to general competence in several other fields in Cardiology such has sports clinic, heart failure, and advanced arrhythmias. With additionalyear training after cardiology fellowship (interventional cardiology fellowship), a cardiologist can perform interventional procedures such as PC
I (coronary artery
Intervention such as stenting the LAD percutaneously by threading a catheter through the groin). Cardiologists can also do things recently streamlined procedures like the so-called TAVR (percutaneous aortic valve replacement). This is accomplished either by doing an interventional cardiology fellowship that gets you certified to do TAVRs or an additional year of training after interventional cardiology fellowship (sometimes called structural cardiology fellowship).
