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Riddhi Patel
Cardiology
February 10 and 11, 2014
Pre-Clinical Rotation Report: Cardiology
1. Describe the major function of the department and explain how it serves the patient.
Cardiology is a sub-specialty of internal medicine. The health care professionals in this
department, mainly cardiologists, provide health care to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases
and conditions of the heart and cardiovascular system, including the arteries. They care for
patients with heart or vascular system deformities in private practice, a hospital or a similar
setting. Contrary to my previously held beliefs, cardiologists are not particularly surgeons;
physicians who conduct open heart surgeries are called cardio-thoracic surgeons and they
must complete a surgical residency program instead of an internal medicine residency.
Arrhythmia (heart beats with an irregular or abnormal rhythm), coronary heart disease
(narrowing of the small blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the heart), and heart
failure (heart’s inability to pump enough blood throughout the body) are some common
conditions professionals in this department treat. Most of the heart diseases are hereditary.
Hence, doctors start diagnosis by studying patient’s chart and personal medical history.
Later, Cardiac Stress tests, ECGs, Echocardiograms, Ultrasounds, Sonograms and/or other
imaging sessions (MRI/CT/X-ray) may be ordered to better analyze and treat the situation.
Treatment options vary greatly- from involving something as basic as blood pressure
medications, to intravenous injections, to pacemakers and arterial stints, to something as
complex as a surgery.
2. Choose one procedure/task commonly performed in the department and provide an
explanation of that process.
One of the most common procedures performed in the Cardiology department is an
Electrocardiogram, abbreviated ECG or EKG, which is a test conducted to check for problems
with the electrical activity of the patient’s heart. It translates the hearts electrical activity into the
line tracings- the spikes and dips are known as waves. Human heart has a natural electrical
system which causes the heart muscle to contract and pump blood throughout the body. The
upper two chambers of the heart are called atria, while the lower two are called ventricles.
Reasons for an ECG test include to check the heart’s electrical activity, find cause of chest pain
(heart attack, pericarditis- inflammation of sac around the heart, etc.), find cause of heart disease
symptoms like SOB, fainting, irregular palpitations, check for hypertrophy (thickening of the
walls of heart chambers), and to check the progress of treatment (medications or implantations).
During the test, one should not be wearing any jewelry around the neck, arms or wrists, or
stockings. The equipment for the test is portable, meaning it can be done almost anywhere. For
the test, the patient is laid on the bed, a special EKG paste or small pads soaked in alcohol are
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placed on the skin- certain areas on the patient’s arms, legs and chest where metal discs
(electrodes) are to be placed- to improve conduction of the electrical impulses, and finally the
electrodes are placed. The patient will be asked to either breathe normally or hold their breath
occasionally; they should not talk during the test, however. If the patient is admitted in the
hospital and their heart is being continuously monitored by an EKG system, the process is known
as telemetry.
3. Predict the different types of professionals or health care workers that are employed in
this department.
There is a wide variety among the health care professionals that work in the department. Most of
them fall under the title of a Cardiologist, Electrophysiologists, Surgeon, or a Registered Nurse.
The nurses in this department in addition to their general duties such as taking VS, administering
IVs, etc., are also trained to read ECGs and are very familiar how to recognize and react to
abnormalities. Cardiac and cardiovascular Nurses help physicians make diagnoses, arrange for
surgeries and other medical procedures, and provide aftercare to patients. Cardiologists are
physicians who have extensive knowledge of the structure and function of the human heart and
blood vessels. They interpret findings from medical tests and conduct physical examinations,
making diagnoses and arranging for appropriate treatment. Cardiologists can be classified as
Non-Invasive (don’t perform any procedures; they see patients to prevent and manage potential
heart problems by performing diagnostic tests to identify heart problems), Invasive but nonInterventional (trained in diagnostic procedure called cardiac catheterization, which is used to
find blockages of the arteries), or Interventional (most complex of the three types; they actually
perform procedures such as balloon angioplasties to open blocked arteries, placing tiny mesh
stents into narrowing arteries, and catheterizations). Electrophysiologists (EP) basically study
the bio-electrical impulses of the heart which control the pace of one’s heartbeat. The
malfunctioning of electrical impulses can cause a heart arrhythmia and EPs treat it with
pacemakers, drug therapy and procedures like ablation (surgical removal of body tissue).
Surgeons operate on hearts, major blood vessels, veins, and arteries in both emergency and nonemergency procedures.
4. Select one career associated with the department and then summarize the educational
and training requirements, the necessary credentials, and the salary for the job.
Cardiologists are one of the most crucial and common type of health care professionals
in the department. They are physicians who specialize in heart conditions and other
cardiopulmonary problems who diagnose and treat heart and blood vessel problems using a
combination of physical examination, symptom review and medical testing. Education
requirements include 4 years of undergraduate study, with preferably a focus on the life sciences
such as chemistry or biology or a pre-med major, 4 years of medical school (MD degree) where
the first two years are devoted to classroom courses (basic medicine and physiology- cell
biology, genetics, immunology) and laboratory education, while the last two to completing
rotations in medical specialties diagnosing illnesses and treating patients, 3-4 years in internal
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medicine residency program (often paid and give hands-on experience under the supervision of
licensed physicians) and finally an additional 3-4 years of fellowship training program focused
on an area of cardiology one may wish to pursue. All cardiologists must be licensed in order to
practice. Prospective physicians must pass the United States Medical Licensing Examination
(USMLE). The American Board of Internal Medicine offers certification in several cardiology
subspecialties, like clinical cardiac electrophysiology, cardiovascular disease and interventional
cardiology by becoming certified in internal medicine which entails some educational, clinical
and licensing requirements, and passing a written exam. Average salary of a cardiologist is
approximately $400,000 annually.
Works Cited
"Cardiologist: Career Profile and Educational Requirements." education-portal.com. Education
Portal, 2003. Web. 8 Feb. 2014. <http://educationportal.com/articles/Cardiologist_Career_Profile_and_Educational_Requirements.html>.
"Electrocardiogram." www.webmd.com. Web MD, LLC., 2005. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.
<http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/electrocardiogram>.
Santiago, Andrea. "Cardiologist Physician Career Profile - Overview of Cardiologists' Careers."
healthcareers.about.com. About.com, 2014. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.
<http://healthcareers.about.com/od/physiciancareers/p/cardiologistpro.htm>.
Timmons, Bronwyn. "Description of a Cardiologist." everydaylife.globalpost.com. GlobalPostInternational News, n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.
<http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/description-cardiologist-1203.html>.