Finding Your Best Fit in Cardiology – TCTMD

I recently received a casual text from a first-year cardiology fellow that read: Should I do cath? My immediate instinct was to reply Yes! I had already reached this decision myself through hours of self-reflection on my skills and future potential in the cath lab, mentorship from attendings, reading literature, writing scientific papers, and weighing the pros and cons for my career and family of being an interventional cardiologist. So, I decided blogging about this topic was a good idea.

I started my medical school certain that I would become a surgeon, but I was captivated by a cardiology elective I did in my fourth year. The pressure to decide on several career path options didnt end for me after medical school, as ultimately I found myself on the interview trail for cardiology and not long after that pondering what I should do within cardiology. Theres noninvasive cardiology, heart failure, advanced cardiac imaging, critical care, electrophysiology, interventional cardiology, vascular medicine, and adult congenital heart disease with sub-subspecialties aplentythe options seem endless!

For some of you, your answer becomes very obvious early: you learn your passion lies in one particular field. For others, it takes a while to develop your niche. If youre in the former group, take the bull by the horns and go for it! If you are a member of the latter club, like me, take your time to learn about interventional cardiology. When I was an internal medicine resident at Bellevue Hospital, I was mostly influenced by working with general cardiologists who incorporated clinical trials and evidence-based medicine into practice. For those of you in similar boats, here are my five key questions you can use to discover your subspecialty of choice as you go through your first year of cardiology fellowship.

In the end, take the opportunity to fully immerse yourself in each subspecialty rotation during your first year. You may find yourself liking it all or that 1 month was not enough time for you to decide on a subspecialty. Explore your options and youll eventually find your best fit in cardiology.

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Finding Your Best Fit in Cardiology - TCTMD