How do you know if cardiology is for you?

[yesno]

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I have a cardiology rotation later in this 3rd year, but how should I figure out if this is for me? So what if I like this rotation? But what if I like many other rotations as well (anything except surgery and psych)? What's the future of this specialty?

 

[HatWobble]

What's the future of this specialty?

By the time you finish your fellowship, heart disease will probably be cured.

So, don't do it.

 

[rocketbooster]

4 years of med school, 3 years of IM, 3 years of cardiology, 1-2 more years for interventional (which you should def do if you are doing cards). Last year there were significant income cuts and you basically work resident hours for the rest of your life. No thanks.

Aside from that, cards is an amazing field (great variety of clinic and procedures) and still well compensated. It really comes down to having a ridiculous work ethic for the rest of your life. Not for me.

 

[yesno]

4 years of med school, 3 years of IM, 3 years of cardiology, 1-2 more years for interventional (which you should def do if you are doing cards). Last year there were significant income cuts and you basically work resident hours for the rest of your life. No thanks.

Aside from that, cards is an amazing field (great variety of clinic and procedures) and still well compensated. It really comes down to having a ridiculous work ethic for the rest of your life. Not for me.

So it's 7yrs, while radiology is 6yrs. I bet I could get my Im->cards residency in a nice geographical area, unlike rads where I'd have to go wherever they take me. And supposedly radiologists have trouble finding work after residency and have to move to undesirable parts of the country. What makes you think that cards work more after residency? I understand they have to split night call and may have to do stents at night. But it is obviously a shared call. But during most days they supposedly do most of their work outpatient, like ekg, echo, PAD ultrasound, listening to murmurs) That does not seem so exhausting or stressful.

My other interest is ER. Only 3yrs, right. But I am afraid that might be a stressful job and I might feel incompetent, I mean they have to call consults all the time, while a cardiologist or radiologist is THE consultant.

 

[xenotype]

So it's 7yrs, while radiology is 6yrs. I bet I could get my Im->cards residency in a nice geographical area, unlike rads where I'd have to go wherever they take me. And supposedly radiologists have trouble finding work after residency and have to move to undesirable parts of the country. What makes you think that cards work more after residency? I understand they have to split night call and may have to do stents at night. But it is obviously a shared call. But during most days they supposedly do most of their work outpatient, like ekg, echo, PAD ultrasound, listening to murmurs) That does not seem so exhausting or stressful.

My other interest is ER. Only 3yrs, right. But I am afraid that might be a stressful job and I might feel incompetent, I mean they have to call consults all the time, while a cardiologist or radiologist is THE consultant.

There is an oversupply of radiologists, so you'd have a lot of trouble finding a job in a desirable metro area. Much of the work besides procedures is outsourceable to pretty much anyone with a US license, so I'd be surprised if a lot of rads aren't in cubicles within a decade. Rads seems to be dropping in competitiveness for a variety of reasons so a good IM residency is probably almost on par with many rads programs geographically speaking.

Cards has received heavy cuts to imaging and consults in 2010 and now heavy cuts to PCI just this year that have taken a lot of the money out of it. Be prepared to make only $50-100K more than a hospitalist who is working half as many hours a week with no call if you go this route. Most people will tell you that cards hours are some of the worst generally speaking.

EM offers excellent lifestyle paired with good income, though hospitalist now is close in income and hours with a regular schedule. Obviously when you are working on shift for either of these, you'll be working hard. Picking something based on income is a dumb decision. There is no guarantee because something makes X$ today it'll make X$ even five years from now, cards definitely proves this as it really is over 25% less than it was four years ago. Rad onc is also getting kneecapped. Ortho is probably going to get the hammer next. Pick something because you like the day to day work.

 

[rocketbooster]

So it's 7yrs, while radiology is 6yrs. I bet I could get my Im->cards residency in a nice geographical area, unlike rads where I'd have to go wherever they take me. And supposedly radiologists have trouble finding work after residency and have to move to undesirable parts of the country. What makes you think that cards work more after residency? I understand they have to split night call and may have to do stents at night. But it is obviously a shared call. But during most days they supposedly do most of their work outpatient, like ekg, echo, PAD ultrasound, listening to murmurs) That does not seem so exhausting or stressful.

My other interest is ER. Only 3yrs, right. But I am afraid that might be a stressful job and I might feel incompetent, I mean they have to call consults all the time, while a cardiologist or radiologist is THE consultant.

I know many cardiologists personally. Expect to be working 60-80 hours per week for the rest of your life. Have fun with that.

And it's 7-8 years post-med school for cards. More and more programs are making interventional 2 years now.

 

[LargeDocGuy2]

I know many cardiologists personally. Expect to be working 60-80 hours per week for the rest of your life. Have fun with that.

Isn't it your choice how much you want to work if you're willing to take less money?

 

[KinasePro]

Theres a legitimate debate over on the IM forums as to whether its worth doing a cards fellowship in lieu of becoming a hospitalist. That alone says a lot about the current state & future of the specialty, IMO. Its a great field if you love it, but the gig has become much less sweet over the past decade.

 

[rocketbooster]

Isn't it your choice how much you want to work if you're willing to take less money?

Idk but all the ones I know do work that much. I'm not sure why I don't know any who work less honestly. The reason they work so much is not usually because of clinic hours, which you can control, but all the emergencies and call. When they're not on call on the weekend they work 60 hours per week. When they are on call over the weekend for the entire group, they work more than a typical weekday and easily add 20 hours due to all the emergencies.

So honestly, I don't know if you have much of a choice in scaling back your hours too much in cards.

 

[kavorca]

At my hospital the cards fellows get hammered pretty good. Although to be fair, so do the nephro and GI fellows.
I have little idea what the attending lifestyle is like though