Cardiology

Question: What is the starting salary for a cardiology doctor? What the top is P.S I mean an invasive cardiology doctor.

Answer: Academic or private practice? What area of the country? What is the payor mix of the patient population? Are there partners? Exclusive hospital contracts? Is there a buy-in for the practice? What is the medicolegal climate in the state in which this cardiologist will be employed? (It will affect malpractice premiums) There are a lot of variables.

Question: How do you get started when you are going into a field of cardiology? I'm starting college Fall of 2008 (Basically i start Jan. 2009) and I'm going in for being a Nursing Assistant, but planning on taking a class on cardiology (since this my my NOW major). How do you get started in this field? (Cardiology)

Answer: Cardiology is a subspecialty of Internal Medicine. It requires a 4-year college degree, a 4-year medical school degree, 3 years of residency training, and (usually) 3 years of fellowship training. A nursing assistant is a completely different thing, requiring only 2 years of college education. If you want to be a nurse's aide on a cardiology floor, I would imagine this requires little additional training, most of which would be provided for you by your employer.

Question: What is a legal issue that is associated with the Medical unit of non invasive cardiology? NON invasive cardiology.. tell me the legal issue or if u find an article about an issue that occured.. any suggestions are welcome!

Answer: Well, there are many legal issues with different aspects of non invasive cardilogy, but one in particular is a violation of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Acountability Act). This happens when an unauthorized person recieves information about a patient and privacy is compromised. Another may be if a patient has a known allergy to the contrast used in a nuclear study, or a CT study, but the allergy is overlooked and the contrast is administered anyhow. Hope this helps. Good luck and all the best.

Question: What jobs are there within the field of cardiology? I'm doing a project on cardiology or more specifically, a cardiologist. So, I could use all the information I can get. And, if anyone can help me get in touch with someone who actually has experience as a cardiologist by email, that would be awesome. :) Thanks.

Answer: There are several types of roles that a cardiologist can play: 1) Non-invasive cardiologist, which is a cardiologist that takes care of patients with cardiac medical problems and performs and reads non-invasive studies, such as echocardiograms, electrocardiograms, stress tests, nuclear stress tests, and Holter monitors 2) Invasive cardiologist, which is a cardiologist who does the same thing as #1, but also does cardiac catheterizations but no interventions such as stenting of coronaries 3) Interventional cardiologist, which is a cardiologist who performs cardiac catheterizations with interventions, sometimes referred to as the "plumbers" of cardiology 4) Electrophysiologist, which is a cardiologist who treats abnormal cardiac rhthms (called arrhythmias) by using medications, implanting pacemakers, or performing EP (electrophysiology) studies to look for the electrical abnormalities in the heart and treat them by using catheters to ablate the sites where the problems occur. They are sometimes referred to as the "electricians" of cardiology Hope this helps as a starting point.

Question: Is it financially better to do diagnostic angiography or place pacemakers in private cardiology practice? I am a 3rd year fellow in cardiology and have the choice of either learning diagnostic angiography, or getting credentialed in pacemaker implantation. Which way to go?

Answer: Nice to see you got into medicine for the right reasons. (note the sarcasm there) Anyway, have you ever heard of a poor cardiologist? Do whatever interests you more,

Question: What is working in Pediatric Cardiology like? I am a pre-PA student and I am really interested in working in pediatric cardiology once I am a PA. I have done lots of research, so I know most of the basics, but I was wondering if anyone had any extra input on this area of medicine. What are some good web resources about it? What is a day in the life of a PA working in pediatric cardiology like? What type of pre-PA job experience will best prepare me to work in pediatric cardiology? Any information would be really helpful! Thanks!

Answer: My advice is to see if you can go to a Pediatric Cardiology clinic and see what you are getting yourself into. That would give you the best insight into it. I work in a Pediatric clinic at the moment...I can tell you, its a lot of noise, confusion and chaos. The kids are great but the parents can be a challenge. Especially in something like pediatric Cardiology. I too, am a PA student. I have firmly decided against Pediatrics for those reasons. I'm not a people person. like I said...my advice is to visit the place that interests you. Talk to the staff. Hopefully, you will love it and do well in it! Best of luck!!

Question: Do you know of any good cardiology books? I am looking for a good book that covers many aspects of cardiology; not just the physiology. A level of difficulty of about undergraduate level would be appreciated. I'd rather not have a book that is too "textbook-like"; that is, without the colourful drawings that explain nothing. Thanks. Sorry, I meant not just the anatomy. And I also meant I'd rather not have the pictures that explain nothing.

Answer: art attack

Question: Which is better being a Cardiologist or a PA in cardiology? I was thinking of just being a Physicians Assistant in cardiology rather than being a cardiologist because cardiologist are held more with liability and risk and such. Can anybody tell me the work schedules between the two and the salaries they make and the the schooling required? Thanks. I haven't found a good website to explain all this.

Answer: Most PA programs are approx 2 yrs for a bachelors degree. You will need to take certain prerequisite courses that are required for admission (each program has slight variations). PA programs teach you general medicine. If you want to work in cardiology you will need to find a job in the field and get on the job training. To become a cardiologist you need to go to med school (4 yrs). Before med school you need a bachelors (3-4 yrs) and need to take the MCAT. After graduating from med school you will do an internal medicine residency (3 yrs) and then a fellowship in cardiology (2-3 yrs). Becoming a cardiologist is obviously a longer, harder road. You have to really want it. If you are currently in college you should speak to an advisor who can give you a better idea of what courses you need to take for either PA school or med school.

Question: How is math used in cardiology? I have to do a report on the usage of math in a career and I would like to know how it is used and cardiology and where I can find information, pictures or anything else that will help me do my report.

Answer: The physical pressure-volume relationships in the heart are followed using the Starling law, which is both math and physics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank-Starling_law_of_the_heart Also, cardiologists talk about cardiac output (the volume pumped per unit of time) and ejection fraction (volume pumped per stroke). Here's a good discussion with equations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiac_output Cardologists also have to be aware of drug properties, ie pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics, which deals with the half-life of drugs in the body http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacodynamics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacokinetics Cardiologists interpret EKG's, which involves ratios, graphing, a basic understanding of circuits and voltage, and measurement of electrical intervals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EKG All doctors also have to have an understanding of statistics, so that when they read research studies done on large populations, they understand the reality behind the numbers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biostatistics Good luck

Question: Is a NICU nurse also considered a neonatal cardiology nurse? I think that NICU nurses do need to know everything about a neonate's cardiac and respiratory needs, so NICU nurses could be called neonatal cardiology nurses, right? Or would neonatal cardiology nurses work more with neonatal cardiologists?

Answer: The children's hospital I am affiliated with does not have specific neonatal cardiology nurses. There is simply NICU nurses and Pediatric Intensive Care (PICU). If the baby is less than 30 days old, regardless if it has cardiac issues, is under the care of the NICU RNs, who care for babies with all kinds of conditions including cardiac. The PICU is for any child from 30 days to 18 years and would also include cardiac intensive care patients. There is a separate pediatric cardiology unit for 30 days to 18 years who are non-critical. They also take a variety of regular medical / surgical overflow patients on a regular basis so it isn't only cardiac patients. So in a nutshell, no, at least where I work, there is not a separate, specific NICU cardiology RN.

Question: Cardiology? Hello, I'm a 16 year-old boy who is getting interested in studying cardiology and becoming a cardiologist. I have checked out books about cardiology and have started studying. I am going to start to volunteer at a local hospital. If I am correct, the total amount of years to study cardiology and be a great cardiologist is about 14 years including college. Is this right? And is there anything else I can do besides research to help me get a head's start? Thank you.

Answer: 4 years of college + 4 years of medical school + 3 years of internal medicine or pediatric residency + 3-5 years of cardiology fellowship = 14-16 years! You're on the right track by volunteering and thinking about research. It will help you get a sense about whether medicine is right for you. Ask a doctor you know if you can spend some time with them at work. The hardest part is getting into medical school. Grades are not enough. They're looking for well rounded people who have good interpersonal skills and are passionate about something. It doesn't have to be medically related, just make sure it's genuine. Good luck!

Question: Cardiology: Celiac Artery Compression Syndrome, What do my Mesenteric Heart Vessel test results mean? Can someone help interpret these test results: Measurements in mesenteric vessels are within normal limits. There is borderline elevation of velocity seen in the celiac trunk on the post prandial measurements with a peak systolic measurement of 202.5cm/sec and suggests possibility of significant stenosis greater than 60%. What does this mean? Is it something that can be treated and if so, how? Symptoms for which he was referred for testing is upper abdominal pain, weight loss, and a sick feeling in the stomach. What may cause this problem? Thanks for your answers.

Answer: Mesenteric vessels are the three major arteries that supply blood to the stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. A normal reading is good signaling no narrowing/blockages. Stenosis is a narrowing or blockage. The celiac trunk is also an atery originating in the abdominal aorta. Boderline elevation means that your aterial pressure is slightly or near high. So basically he is saying that your celiac artery is blocked greater than 60%. A stenosis (blockage) greater than 60% depending on the status of other vessels that feed your intestines may or may not cause the symptoms your doctor described. This type of blockage causes discomfort after eating resulting from poor (mesenteric )circulation the discomfort can be so severe people stop eating. You should first get a diagnosis to determine what condition you have and ask your doctor to speak english and not use any technical jargon. Have you been diagnosised with Celiac Artery Compression Syndrome (CACS) and not Celiac artery stenosis (CAS) I ask because CACS is extremely rare and is best diagnosed after a CT angiograph. CAS which is more common is atherosclerotic in nature (a disease which affects arterial blood vessels). CACS on the other hand is intestenial agina you would be in pain and probably had a significant weight loss and the treatment for this is surgery. Hope this explanation works. Good luck.

Question: how do i get acess to study cardiology in the us? I realy want to study cardiology in the us but I don not know how to go about it. I am doing my sixth form in sierra leone and I want to be enrolled in one of the US top universities.

Answer: I am not a dr. but it seems to me if you are serious about this you should get a list of the best cardio. drs in the U.S. and start writing letters to them and to schools if they feel your interest is real and you have good grades I feel sure someone will come along to help you. I recently had a heart attach and a dr that wasn't even taking new patients came to my rescue. So I know good things happen. Good Luck and have faith.

Question: Is Cardiovascular Medicine the same as cardiology? I am a high schooler who want to go to a college for cardiology. The college i want to go to has a Cardiovascular Medicine department, so i was wondering if cardiology falls under this department?

Answer: Yeah, that is the name of the UW cardiology department. However, you are a good 11+years from ever entering a cardiology program. You have to get a bachelors, then get into med school, finish four years plus a three year internal medicine residency, and then apply to a fellowship in cardiology. You are a few steps ahead of yourself.

Question: Can occupational therapist do course in preventive cardiology in India? Where Master's Degree in Preventive Cardiology is available?

Answer: Yes.He can do. Its available in MMC

Question: How can I get training in Paediatric Cardiology? Currently I am working as consultant Paediatrician in Pakistan. I have highest postgraduate degree in Paediatrics from Pakistan i.e FCPS and also have got MRCP (Ireland) in Paediatrics. I want to get training in Paeds Cardiology for 2 -3 years from UK/USA/Canada?Ireland/Australia and then want to come back.

Answer: University of Kansas Medical Center