Questions about Cardiology application and practice

[CampUnity]

I am a first year and exploring Cardiology. Do you think that you apply to match into internal med first and then after you finish with your 3 years of internal med, and then apply to the cardiology fellowship or do you apply to the cardiology fellowship directly after med school? Also, do cardiologist have solo practice or do they tend to have group practice or do they tend to work for the hospital? Thanks in advance.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[runningdoc2008]

Cardiology is a dynamic and exciting field. While I would encourage you to spend time learning about other fields of medicine before jumping directly into cardiology, unfortunately cardiology is very competetive, and the early you dedicate yourself the easier your application will be.

That being said....

ALL cardiology positions in the US are attained after the completion of an internal medicine residency. There are very few instances where you can do two years of an internal medicine residency and then begin your cardiology fellowship; however, those instances that are usually behind the scenes where the applicant has made a committment to long term cardiology research.

Most (ie > 90%) of american med school graduates apply for the best IM residency that they can get into. During residency they try to decide what they want to specialize in, if they want to specialize at all.

Once they decide on cardiology, then they seek out a cardiology attending so that they can begin cardiology research. This aspect causes the most stress for residents as residency is itself very time-consuming, and so, fitting research into residency is very difficult.

Getting into cardiology fellowships without research is becoming more and more difficult. If you are in a top 5 IM program, you can probably get away without research. For everyone else, research is almost a must.

Thus, the earlier one can get involved in a project the better.

Now, if your heart is really set on cardiology.

 

[runningdoc2008]

regarding practices.

The answer I give does not apply to cardiologists in general, but rather to most specialties.

There are very few solo practices around these days. It is very difficult to be available for you patients 24/7. Also it is easier to share administrative costs with a partner.

There are hundreds of variations of private practices. There are small groups of 4 cardiologists; there are larger groups of 20-30. There are groups of interventional only, or EP only. You can be a part of a multi-specialty group where you may get referrals from PCP within that group. You can be employees of a HMO. you can be employees of a hospital, then work your way up the hospital corporate ladder to be the CEO of the hospital.

Almost anything you can think of, exists in the marketplace.

In addition, there are a lot of faculty positions: you can be a hardcore cardiologist-lab researcher, or a clinical researcher, or you can attend inthe CCU. You can be a cardiologist at a community academic center and primilary just focus on educating fellows with some academic projects on the side.

Finally, many cardiologists jump ship after practicing, and work as consultants for law firms, consulting companines, bio-tech companies, governemnt etc.

 

[grendelsdragon]

I am a first year and exploring Cardiology. Do you think that you apply to match into internal med first and then after you finish with your 3 years of internal med, and then apply to the cardiology fellowship or do you apply to the cardiology fellowship directly after med school? Also, do cardiologist have solo practice or do they tend to have group practice or do they tend to work for the hospital? Thanks in advance.

Very nice post Runningdoc.

I'll add that most people apply for cardiology fellowship during their second year in internal medicine residency. A few apply during their first (intern) year to fast-track. You can't apply directly to cardiolgy form med school.