Career Profile: Cardiologist

May 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment

If you’re considering a career in medicine, you’ll find that cardiology is one of the top medical fields today. As the health crisis in America continues due to increasing obesity and the longer lives of the baby boomers, cardiologists will stay in high demand. Quite simply, a cardiologist is a heart doctor. He may specialize from there and become a surgeon, or he may focus on a particular area of heart health. Whatever the doctor does, he’s going to need a very qualified nurse to help him care for his patients.

Although cardiology is a hot subfield of medicine, nursing is even hotter. One of the best paying and highly regarded careers in the world is nursing. A good, well-educated nurse can always find a great job, but a cardiology nurse is a very special individual. Hospitals have entire floors dedicated to heart health, so those nurses are specialized and knowledgeable. A good cardiologist will demand a good nursing staff, so consider a nursing education through Capella University. You’ll start with a generalized education, and as you go through the various areas of nursing you can start to plan your career path.

If you do choose to support a cardiologist or work for a heart hospital, be prepared to be on the go. It’s a fast environment where seconds can mean the difference between life and death. It’s most definitely exciting, demanding and rewarding. Cardiologists are heroes, but so are their nurses. You’ll get to interact closely with patients and families and receive the appreciation that comes with saving someone’s life.

 

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Living With Heart Disease

December 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Heart diagram with labels in English. Blue com...
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Heart disease is a term that denotes an extremely large field of medicine. If you have high blood pressure, you have heart disease. If you have had atrial fibrillation treated by a cardiologist, you have heart disease. If you have to take medication daily to control any heart condition, you have heart disease. While many people think of heart disease as something fatal, and in some cases it can be, most heart conditions are treatable and easy to maintain if the right steps are taken.

Keeping up with health check ups with your family physician or cardiologist is essential to maintaining your health and keeping your heart disease under control. Taking any medication that is prescribed to you is essential in managing your heart disease. These medications are carefully formulated and specific to your type of heart disease. Taking them as directed will keep your heart from causing any problems in your life. Hence, not taking them as directed can have serious, even fatal, side effects. Over time if you do not take your medication as directed, your heart disease can progress, it can easily become more serious and can cause irreversible damage to your heart muscle.

Eating a healthy diet and getting as much exercise as you can are also essential steps to keeping your heart healthy. Cutting out some of the fats in your diet and substituting unhealthy snacks with fruit or low fat snacks is one way you can take charge of your care. Taking a nice walk a few times a week goes a long way in helping to keep the heart muscle strong. Obviously, if you are smoking, you should make every effort to stop. Smoking can cause serious risks to a patient with heart disease.

By just managing your lifestyle a little differently and making some minimal changes, you can keep your heart healthy for a very long time to come.

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Choosing The Right Doctor

December 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

You have been diagnosed with heart disease. Those two words alone can mean something as minor as a heart beat flutter to full blown blocked arteries and need for surgery. How do you find out what the next step is? Who is the right professional for your needs?

If a baby is born with a heart problem, the professionals will probably be called in right at the time of birth, and these specialists and their colleagues will determine exactly what needs to be done and who is the best specialist for that. Heart disease will need to be followed throughout the child’s life, thus setting up lifelong heart care. If you have never had heart disease, and begin to have symptoms, you would probably start with your family doctor. Yearly physicals are so important for catching heart disease at its earliest and making the treatment of heart disease work the best for you. You may just be starting to have some high blood pressure. Your physician will tell you to exercise more, eat healthier and he may prescribe some blood pressure medication, which you may be on for a lifetime. Taken properly and taking care of yourself can keep this particular heart disease in check forever.

If it something more involved, your family doctor will send you to a heart doctor, or cardiologist. Your cardiologist may handle your issues with just medication if that is all that is necessary or you may need another step. Further testing may be involved, or even surgery. The cardiologist will then send you to a cardiac surgeon, who will do whatever is necessary to diagnose the proper issue with your particular heart. From there you may be sent to another specialist, as the study of the heart and those who have made it their life’s work are vast and varied. Do your research. With the right guidance from your doctors, your heart will be in good hands.

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The Doctor is Right

December 13, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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You have some chest pain, a little indigestion. You take some antacids, stop eating greasy foods so much and figure it will go away. It does not. You try the antacids again, drink more water, maybe cut out the greasy foods altogether. It gets a little better, but it is still there. You are too busy to go to the doctor right now. You will get around to it. What if it is something more serious? What if you should get it checked out. Your spouse makes an appointment for you because they are tired of hearing you complain, and they are concerned it might be something more.

You head to the doctor’s office. The doctor gives you a check up, scolds you about the usual, you should lose some weight, smoking should definitely be cut out, get a little exercise. Just to be sure he does an electrocardiogram, a tracing of your heart. He sees something. Maybe it is nothing, maybe it is something that should be taken care of. He sends you to a cardiologist, the heart doctor.

The cardiologist does some further testing and finds out that you actually may have a blocked valve or something else going on in your heart. He sends you for a cardiac cauterization. This test puts a wire directly into the veins that go to the heart to see if there is a blockage. If there is a blockage, the doctor can place a stent, a little metal piece that will hold the valve open so that it can do its job. You can also have more than one stent placed. In extreme cases, he may need to use veins from other parts of your body to replace blocked or damaged veins, bypass surgery. It also may be something that can be handled with medicine. Whatever the case, listen to your body, and then listen to your doctor.

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I Believe In Music

December 7, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Heart disease; no one wants it and if it is diagnosed, there are many ways to make it better, or at least get a handle on it in your life. When heart disease is diagnosed a patient may need surgery. If it is a type of heart disease that can be handled with medicine, the cardiologist will prescribe the proper medication. At the same time your heart doctor will probably recommend a healthier lifestyle. He will tell you to take better care of yourself. Even if you are a person who does take care of yourself, you don’t smoke, you are not overweight, you do not drink and your cholesterol is under control, heart disease can affect you. So you take inventory and decide anything in your life that is not good for your heart may need an adjustment. Cut down on your stress, lighten your work load if possible and slow down.

The medical treatments are obvious, but there are many other ways we can help our bodies stay free of heart disease, or keep it from becoming more serious. Music has been proven an affective way to do just that. Research suggests that music therapy can reduce your blood pressure, a big culprit in heart disease. Music can also slow your heart rate and ease anxiety. A study at the University of Maryland School of Medicine showed that when people listened to joyful music, chosen by them because it made them feel good, their blood vessels dilated and there was increased blood flow to the heart. This is significant in that stricture to the vessels can have the opposite effect, chest pain and even a heart attack.

Choose soothing music, music that makes you feel good. Depressing music will not make you feel better. Take some time for yourself, put on those headphones and soothe your aching heart.

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The Right Professional

December 2, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Your heart disease may be diagnosed by your family doctor. Once the diagnosis is made, he or she will send you to a cardiology specialist. The cardiology specialist will further stratify your symptoms, perform further testing and narrow down your diagnosis. At that point you may need to see another type of heart specialist. Where 30 years ago the family doctor treated everything from the common cold to cancer, we are now in an age where physicians are further schooled to specialize in different areas of expertise. Can a general cardiologist treat your serious heart disease? Yes. Would you not rather see a physician who went to further schooling and has done more research in your particular type of heart disease?

You may have heart disease that involves your lungs as well. There is a specialist for that. A general cardiologist, while knowledgeable in “matters of the heart” may not be as knowledgeable in lung disease, but there is a specialist who is. You may have other problems going on simultaneously with your heart disease. You can see several different specialists and that may be the best way to go. However, there may be a physician who specializes in more than one aspect of heart disease, and may be just the right physician for your needs.

Being in charge of your care at all times will make your treatment work for you. Asking the right questions will give you the answers your need. Following the instructions of your physicians will make you healthier. It can even keep you from progression of the disease, or stop something fatal from happening. These decisions are too important to leave to chance. Research your type of heart disease, ask your physicians and find the right professional for your needs. If you trust your physician, you will feel more confident about your treatment and you will be more likely to follow his expert advice.

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The Path to Becoming a Cardiovascular Surgeon

August 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Becoming a cardiovascular surgeon is a lengthy journey, even when compared with other medical professionals. Heart professionals treat patients with severe and life threatening conditions as well as treating those with congenital heart disorders which, left untreated, could prove to be fatal.

It is unsurprising then that cardiovascular surgeons undergo an extended education following on from medical school graduation. In the US, potential heart surgeons complete a five year surgery residency after eight years’ medical school and college attendance. On completion of their residency, would-be surgeons then gain specialised skills through a focused fellowship in their area of preferred expertise. Those wishing to carry out heart transplants or work in paediatric cardiology must complete two or three years’ further training in their chosen field.

It is not all theoretical study that goes into the making of a heart specialist. A medical residency is on the job training for aspiring surgeons, enabling them to learn the skills required for their profession under the careful tutorage of experienced surgeons. This practical experience is vital in providing real life learning experiences in which training surgeons can carry out real procedures in preparation for their career as a fully qualified heart professional.

This undertaking requires dedication, commitment and no small amount of hard work. These qualities are imperative to the making of a successful cardiovascular surgeon. With a deep understanding of the heart’s anatomy, as well as the blood vessels which surround it, cardiovascular surgeons apply their residency training to perform intricate, life saving surgeries.

What then for the fully qualified cardiovascular surgeon? Heart professionals are either employed in a public or private hospital, or they may choose to set up their own practice seeing patients in a consultative capacity and performing surgery. In the US, the American Board of Medical Specialists certifies all cardiovascular surgeons, while further specialisations require appointment to the American College of Cardiology.

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Cardiovascular Professions | Heart Surgeons

August 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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A cardiac surgeon, or heart surgeon, performs surgery on the heart and blood vessels. These medical doctors go through years of intense academic and clinical training. They encourage a healthy lifestyle, including exercise and proper nutrition, and specializes exclusively in medical issues related to the heart.

A healthy, functioning heart is of utmost importance to an individual’s health. If a person is experiencing heart problems that pose a serious health risk, surgery will be considered. There are a various types of heart surgery.

Coronary artery bypass surgery is one of the most common types. The heart surgeon must bypass the blockage of the coronary using a blood vessel taken from another area of the body. The first successful coronary artery bypass was undertaken in the 1960′s, and since then, the field of cardiovascular medicine has seen the introduction of many improvements and new surgical techniques. One of the most exciting advancements may be the introduction of a rather new technique called minimally invasive coronary artery bypass. Unlike traditional open-heart surgery, this procedure gains access to the coronary arteries through a very small incision above the heart.

Other common procedures include triple and quadruple bypasses, along with heart transplants. Because of the delicate nature of these surgeries and the fact that advancements are being made constantly, heart surgeons must undergo many years of post-secondary education.

The majority of cardiac surgeons begin their educational paths with a four-year Bachelor of Science degree, though a Bachelor of Arts is also permissible. Upon graduation comes four years of medical school, earning the student the title of Medical Doctor, or M.D. Then, five years of study in general surgery is required. The final step in training is a cardiothoracic training program of two to three years. Even more training may be mandatory for certain specialties, and a licensing exam must be passed before being allowed to practice.

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Cardiovascular Technologists Are In Demand

August 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Did you know that there is large demand across the nation for cardiovascular technologists? It is an interesting field for anyone interested in cardiovascular health and technology. Also known as a registered cardiovascular invasive specialist or RCIS, these technicians and specialists receive education and training to perform-at the request and under the supervision of physicians-the documentation of a patient’s cardiovascular disease.

Because of its multidisciplinary science nature, the professional can perform either noninvasive or invasive operations in catheterization, vascular ultrasound or echocardiography. The procedures can determine the extent, if any, of heart abnormalities. These procedures are done in a laboratory or surgical setting. The RCIS may also help with life support procedures, which means these technicians will be knowledgeable in sterile techniques as well as radiation safety.

These certified technicians can also concentrate in cardiac monitoring analysis. These analyses and test include data obtained through tests such as such as arrhythmia analysis, electrocardiography, electrocardiogram (EKG), and exercise stress testing. The professionals can also specialize in vascular ultrasound and echocardiography.

The salary range of these professionals will vary depending on experience, expertise location as well as length and place of employment. A good source for current US salary ranges can be found at http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos100.htm (U.S. Department of Labor).

The opportunities presented by individuals who are cardiovascular technologists are wide reaching and rewarding. You can do research or teach. You can become the administrator of a cardiology department. There are also opportunities as a medical sales person or as an applications specialists.

Whether you want to work directly with patients and their physicians by providing a very important service to patient health; or administer a program or perhaps do research in cardiology, you will have a great start with your education and experience as a cardiovascular technologist.

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