Also, you can add a comma here for comedic relief- Why, Cardiology?

Anyway, its just the best. I didn’t say this in interview season, but I am often amazed at how much I love this field and how cool I think it is.

Cardiology is one of the fields of internal medicine that is just so broad. Though people in residency made it seem like only one type of person goes into cardiology, I am pushing back against that, because it’s just not true.

Research

So one thing I love is that cardiology is very research heavy. Of course the field that has houses the # 1 disease that Americans succumb to should have a lot of research to back up why we do what we do. I love this about cardiology. A lot of the questions I have about clinical care has been asked and a lot of the time, there is a randomized control trial about that very question.

Also, the fact that there is still so much more out there that is being studied was amazing to me.

If you have been on a cardiology rotation, one of the frequent questions that comes up is what is the literature behind what you are doing? The reason that the cardiologists can ask this is because usually there has been a study (really several studies depending on what you are asking) that has asked literally the same question.

Broad field/Personalities

When I was a resident, I don’t think that I appreciated how many types of cardiologists there were.

I think that people made it seem that if I wasn’t into procedures that I couldn’t do cardiology (this is an insidious form of gatekeeping, honestly). Turns out, I love procedures, but that’s not the point, people.
Cardiology literally has a whole field called “noninvasive” that allows people to do different types of procedures that may not involve putting catheters and pacemaker wires into people. I don’t think that’s something I appreciated enough as a resident.

There are so many parts of cardiology that even if I list them here, my list would be outdated by next year. I’ll try though, because not enough people put it out there for people. One of these days, I’m going to go in depth about these fields.

Invasive Cardiology

Electrophysiology

Interventional Cardiology

Cardiac Critical Care

Noninvasive Cardiology

Preventive

Echocardiography

Imaging (Cardiac MRI/ Cardiac CT)

Cardio-Oncology

Cardio- Obstetrics

Yes, yes, I know, I have forgotten xyz part of cardiology. I’ll add in ones as we go, gracious.

Anyway, in residency, as I was figuring out what I liked, I remember doing my cardiology rotation at the beginning of my second year and when I tell you I WORKED? I worked my butt off. It was the best, though. I loved it so much and my love for it and the genuine excitement about going to work each day made me realize that I wanted to pursue it.

So there you go. A VERY preliminary idea of why I chose this field. Feel free to reach out to me for more info if you’re interested 💜

Love,

Lise