Cardiology

Cardiovascular Disease (the formal specialty title) is pretty cool because it relies on both traditional history and physical exam skills as well as fancy technological advances. Invasive cardiologists are subspecialists who perform angiographies and catheterization (angioplasty, valvuloplasty). There is also a subspecialty clinical cardiac electrophysiology which studies arrhythmias. Although generally office-based, cardiologists may also work in hospitals with long hours and night call. The increasing numbers of cardiologists has led to intense competition and a movement to decrease the number of cardiologists. Training is an internal medicine or pediatric residency plus a three year fellowship (which includes research). Further training requires an additional year and also includes nuclear cardiology.