What does the job of the non-interventional pediatric cardiologist look like in terms of procedures?
I realize that a big part of the job is imaging-- with additional fellowships in echo and MR. But what can I do if I'm not interested in imaging, and interested in more of the procedural stuff with this dismal job market? I know CICU is an option as well. But what about after just 3 years of peds cardio fellowship?
Also, applying to peds residencies now. If I am at all interested in peds cardio-- should I be looking to match somewhere for residency with a pediatric cardiology fellowship in place?
The cardiologists can weigh in further, but most of the procedural stuff is going to go to those with more specialized training - interventional, EP, and CICU. Will depend on the program and who feels comfortable with what in regards to operative TEE and if that's limited to the imaging people or not...also surgeon preference can matter. Also, keep in mind that a vast majority of TTE's will actually done by the echo techs, so it's not even like the general cardiologists are doing a ton of those either.
As for the second question, I don't think it is an absolute requirement and there are pros and cons.
In general, I think if you are going toward fellowship, you should go someplace that has at least some sort of fellowship program. More specifically, if you're leading towards an acute/inpatient based field, it would be better to go some place that has PEM, PICU, NICU, Cards or even Pulm/GI/heme onc fellows, as I think you'll benefit from having a role model while a resident. Even just having someone to bounce questions off of regarding the general process can be helpful regardless of field. That said, if you're looking cards, talking with the developmental peds or adolescent fellow might not be as useful.
Going to a place with a cards fellowship will obviously garner a lot more connections, is likely to have a more active research apparatus, and of course those role model fellows with specific expertise towards your situation. I don't think those benefits are a surprise. The downsides might be, particularly at the bigger centers that have advanced fellows as well, is that you won't have near the same opportunities to get involved in those activities if you're in line behind the junior faculty, the advanced fellows, and then the general cards fellows. One of my best friends from residency (now doing interventional) specifically avoided some of the biggest name fellowships because she saw they were taking 5-6 fellows per year along with multiple advance fellows and she felt the experience would be watered down compared to some of the smaller fellowship programs. If that's the case with the actual fellows, then it's hard to assume it won't be even worse for the residents.
If you really like a residency program that doesn't have a cardiology fellowship but is otherwise doing some degree of scholarly output, I think it can work out for you. No matter where you end up though, you'll need to excel as a resident, make sure the cardiologists know you want to go into cards, and put in the extra work necessary to build your CV.
