To become a board-certified cardiologist, student doctors must complete a fellowship, which consists of several years of combined clinical and research work. Basic cardiovascular medicine fellowships typically take three years to complete. Interventional cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology fellowships can add another two to three years of clinical work to a cardiology fellowship’s three basic years.
While medical schools provide cardiology training, hospitals and medical centers offer cardiology fellowships. A competitive application process is used to award fellowships. Before beginning a cardiology fellowship, prospective fellows must have completed an internal medicine residency program. Cardiology fellows, like fellows in other medical disciplines, are frequently paid stipends during their fellowship years.
Clinical rotations are emphasized in most cardiology fellowships. Fellows rotate through various medical facilities, performing invasive and noninvasive cardiology procedures and testing, as well as patient consultations. Fellows are supervised board-certified cardiologists while performing their duties.
Rotations in arrhythmia centers, where patients are evaluated and treated for irregular heart rhythms and problems with the electrical activity of the heart, are usually part of a cardiology fellowship’s curriculum. Fellows learn how to diagnose cardiac problems using echocardiograms and stress tests in echocardiography labs. Fellows in coronary care units monitor patients recovering from heart attacks and other heart-related events.
Work in nuclear medicine clinics is another option for cardiac fellowship rotations. Fellows learn how to diagnose heart conditions using nuclear scans and nuclear stress tests in these clinics. They oversee various tests and collaborate with board-certified cardiologists to develop treatment plans for patients.
Some cardiology fellowship programs include rotations at veterans’ hospitals, where fellows can practice patient evaluation and consultation. These hospitals also offer training in procedures such as cardiac catheterization, pacemaker implantation, and heart transplantation. Outpatients and admitted patients are closely monitored fellows.
Fellows can pursue specialized fellowships in interventional cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology after completing a basic cardiology fellowship. These fellowships are designed for people who want to focus on a specific treatment area rather than pursue a broad medical or academic career. The training for these specialized fellowships is more difficult and comprehensive than the basic fellowship rotations.
Additional learning opportunities, such as lecture series on basic cardiovascular medicine topics, are available in some cardiology fellowship programs. Weekly research meetings may provide information on the most recent research being conducted faculty members at a medical school. Fellows may also be given the opportunity to teach or supervise first-year medical students during clinical rotations.