Hi guys, as title says I am a Canadian Cardiology fellow. Was wondering how favorable Canadian grads are looked at in the Interventional Cardiology ERAS match, particularly for a top 10 program, ex. Cleveland Clinic, etc. I am pretty good in the research front, but not sure if coming from Canada / not having US connections / STEP scores will be a major hinderance?

thanks,

I am interested in the use of stem cells and tissue scaffolds in regenerating healthy valves/replacing diseased myocardium.

There are courses being held to give us an deeper dive into stem cells and extracellular vesicles.

Do you think these in-depth courses will be beneficial from a cardiologist perspective?

Should a cardiologist know these core basics and the how-to or just learn the crude applications only?

https://imgur.com/a/ecg-2RuQMS9

Why would we count ineffective beats? The rhythm in the picture has 40 normal QRS, but with PVCs is 70-80.

The pulse would probably be Brady cardiac. I search google and got conflicting answers. Anyone with Cardio background that can explain and provide a solid source to reference?

This question is apart of the learning structure for a massive health conglomerate so if it’s wrong, I wanted to see if I can advocate them to correct it…. Or I can learn something and be a more effective nurse.

I am an RN on a stepdown unit and am really trying to get a better understanding of EKGs/heart rhythms/telemetry strips. They really don’t teach much about interpreting EKGs and rhythms at all in school, just the bare minimum. To preface this, the pt was completely fine (vitals stable, asleep in bed).

The monitor alerted for Vtach. It looks too narrow to me to be Vtach, but it’s also clearly not the pt’s baseline NSR (you can see their normal rhythm to the left and right of the four unusual beats). Is this SVT? That’s my best guess. But I thought SVT would be a longer run than just four beats. Is it possible to have such a short run of SVT? And if not, what are these four beats? Just a random run of sinus tachycardia?

Finally, how can I learn more about this stuff as an RN? Does anyone have suggestions of classes or material for medical professionals? It would be immensely helpful and I really want to know more so I can be a better nurse for my patients but I don’t know where to start.

Hey everyone just wanted to rant. I am currently doing interventional cardiology fellowship and work insane hours in the lab. Fellowship is very busy. I feel burnt out. I decided to take the boards inspite barely getting any time to study.

I did well on day 1 even with minimal studying. Day 2 since I didn't prep much was ultra conservative in coding. ECGs and angiograms I was within passing SD but echoes I scored really low and ultimately failed. I did ecg source as much as i could. I never did O Keefe. Just started doing them but man they make me feel like I coded very little in the exam.

I was shattered. I have never failed a test in my life and was top of my med school and did well in all my ITEs. What hurt the most is I cleared echo boards with relative ease. Imposter syndrome is at an all time high. I'm starting my job in 6 months. In the grand scheme of things it might be small but still every day I get this feeling that I messed up.

Hi! Curious GP here (not in training yet). I recently encountered a case of a STEMI patient who underwent thrombolysis. The resident in charge (RIC) put the patient on NPO, so I asked why. He said it was to prevent GI bleeding. I tried looking for solid evidence online to support this but couldn’t find any. So is it really necessary for post-thrombolysis STEMI patients to be on NPO?

The only rationale I found was if the patient is pending CABG or PCI in case thrombolysis fails. Would love to hear your thoughts on this!

P.s. Thank you to the mods for allowing me to inquire on this sub

I am a first year fellow with plans of doing non-invasive cardiology. Are there people like me that struggle in the cath lab ? I am having difficulty getting access even with ultrasound and I just seem to look stupid in the eyes of the interventional cardiologist that I am having anxiety just being in the cath lab. I am always ready to try but nothing seems to be working. I am hoping to just get my 100 caths and just call it good but I just feel terrible that I am being judged by this. I am okay otherwise, i study hard and always been in the 90% percentile in all my ITE’s including ACC ITE

Hey guys on my EP rotation and would like to see what recs everyone has for foundational trials for the field. My attendings also always pimp me on the trials and I've been caught saying "uhh idk" way too many times.

I know the OPTION TRIAL (okay just kidding, calm down John Mandrola)

So far I got MUSTT, MADIT-I, MADIT-II, MADIT-CRT, SCD-HeFT, Castle-AF.

Anything else? New-ish trials are okay but mainly looking for older more established trials that are considered to be dogma for the EP field.

Thank you everyone!

I was just reading a study that patients with underlying LBBB and LAD don't respond as well to CRT therapy. Does anyone know if the same applies to left bundle area pacing? Have there been any studies on this yet?

hello, I'm a med student and I was just curious about this. I had heard this before somewhere and wanted to check if it was true. Is there any instances where as a cardiologist, you need to enter an OR and help the CT surgeon with something for a shared patient?

I've heard conflicting things about which one is better to buy to prepare for cardiology boards. anyone have experience or strong opinions on the difference between them?

does anyone have a subscription to O'Keefe online ECG / Cath review that they are done with and would be interested in selling (or giving away :) the remaining time on their subscription?

Hello everyone, I am a PGY2 IMG from a community hospital interested in cardiology fellowship. I have completed MPH and did postdoc in CV imaging at JHU. I cowrote a grant, have publications and did many oral presentations at AHA and ACC as well. I am now set to do away rotation at few places. I am also part of ACC IM cardiology program. Also received few awards, recently, best intern award in my program. My red flags though: community program, visa requiring, step 1 attempt but passed the rest. I need some guidance and advice from fellows and cardiologists.

1. What do you think are my chances of matching? I am not picky with location or program.
2. What should I do to maximize my chances?
3. I have a possible away rotation that I can schedule in the month of Oct- Nov in an university program. Is that a good time to do an away rotation? I am not sure if it will help me get IV at that program this 2026 cycle. Would there still be a chance for them to give me an IV or better yet rank me, if I do well, ofcourse? Any advice is appreciated! Thank you for your time.

Posting here to get some idea about interventional cardiology jobs in the northeast. Ideally looking for complex PCI coming out of training with some mentorship available. Leaning more towards academic for these reasons. Anybody have any leads?? Thanks and appreciate it in advance

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to sit for the EACVI TTE exam this June and would love some advice. For those who’ve taken the exam, what study materials, books, or resources did you find most helpful?

Also, if you have any tips for preparing, strategies for the day of the exam, or things to watch out for, I’d really appreciate your insights! Thanks in advance! 😊

Hey Everyone, I am a graduate of one Canadians medical schools and currently PGY2 in IM at a Canadian Royal College certified program. For my cardiology fellowship I am planning to move down south to the states since I just obtained my Green Card. Many states with Accept the LMCC (licensure of medical council of Canada) examinations in lieu of USMLE exams. Does anyone have any experience in this area? I have challenged and passed all my Canadian exams but have not attempted the steps.

How are my chances? For reference I have ~60 pubs ~30 abstract presentations at AHA/ACC/HRS, was involved in cardiology since before med school, will have very good recoms from staff and PD, all electives done in cardiology, ++ leadership and teaching experience during residency.

I would really appreciate any thoughts and suggestions.

Not sure if this is the right sub, but I saw this note while working my way through Podrid’s Real-World ECGs: Volume 1. This seems very counterintuitive and I can’t find any evidence to back this up. Am I missing something here?

Full excerpt:

“It should be noted that ischemia is not the cause of sinus node abnormalities. The sinus and AV nodes generate an action potential that is based on calcium ion fluxes, which are energy independent and do not require an energy-dependent ATPase pump. Hence sinus and AV nodal activity is unaffected by ischemia”

Hi, I’m currently an internal medicine resident and was wondering if someone could share cardiology courses available to residents. Thank youu

Per title, is there a convenient list of common cardiology billing? EM has one, I’m trying to harvest them off the master list which is enormous

Hi everyone, unfortunately I didn't match this year and I am having a difficulty choosing which one of these advanced fellowships to go for. Any insights or prior experiences would be appreciated.

Hi All,

I am a first year fellow - feel like I need to start building my resume to apply EP if I am serious about it. I came in wanting to do HF but realized I do not really care for VAD/transplant as much as I thought but definitely interesting. IC/Imaging are both again enriching but not what I see doing long term.

I really have liked (so far) bread and butter general cardiology - echo, nuke, consults, inpatient services. There is so much to know and I feel like I have picked the right field (most) days at work. I really enjoyed the cerebral aspects of EP a lot - device interrogations, EKG, and really mastering identifying rhythms. I have gotten to scrub into a few EP procedures but not too many.

I am having a difficult time choosing between the two - and if I should be more aggressively pursuing EP research/time in lab. A colleague told me if you are going into EP - you have to really love it and love it much more than general cardiology.

The other complicating factor is my wonderful wife is a lawyer - she has a great job but that means we are locked geographically for EP fellowship. I would ideally be practicing in a community/private practice setting for both fields in NY/NJ/CT area long term.

Here are my pros/cons if anyone has time to give a little guidance!

General Pros:

• Lot of breadth to field, I enjoy most aspects right now
• Flexible/hot job market with pretty solid compensation
• Less call responsibilities in general, back at reasonable hours most days

General Cons:

• Competition from APP/AI?
• Salary is often capped and does not have much room to purchase equity into practices?
• Can get stuck with some mundane consults
• Not sure if my fellowship specific but sometimes looked down as lesser than the sub specialists?

EP Pros:

• Very interesting field with so much new technology coming out every day
• Average consults usually seems to be much more warranted
• Have ability to innovate and buy into equity of practice/centers? Salary ceiling much higher
• Much more protected from AI/APPs
• Call is not terrible

EP Cons:

• Difficult job market in tri-state and also seemingly more competitive to get fellowship position in the area too
• Longer hours with more complications, lead time
• Lot of grinding personalities in the field

As the time nears on deciding General vs IC, hoping to get input from current attendings on call burden (how often, description of an average night in the life) and how this has affected your relationship with your spouse (such as sleeping arrangements, division of home/child duties, etc). Thank you all.

Does it matter if you went to a low-mid tier fellowship when applying to attending jobs? I’m thinking of whether or not I should pursue an advanced imaging fellowship at a better known institution to make job seeking a bit smoother afterwards. I like imaging but I’d be mostly doing it for the reason above.

Hey all, current first year fellow still trying to figure out what kind of cardiologist I what I want to focus my time on during training and what skills i want to learn.

I have no interest in doing procedures like cath or EP, so I'm out on them. Literally even less interest in advanced heart failure and ever hearing the words IV milirinone with bridge to LVAD again. And no way jose on congential cardiology.

Wanted to ask y'alls opinions on the advanced imaging fellowships a lot of places have.

I know a common sentiment is they're not necessary, and not ACGME accredited, but looking forward into what kind of practice I want to be part of and what I want my day to day responsibilities to focus on it might be worth it.

I like echo (including TEE), my program allows us to get Level II nuclear numbers. I would also be interested in reading cardiac CTs and cardiac MRIs.

Now asking around the faculty and 3rd year fellows at my program, reading cardiac MRIs are not worth it for private practice. Takes a lot of time, access to an MRI machine and the RVU is not worth the effort.

However the 3rd year fellows applying for private practice have told me that a lot of practices have asked them if they're CT board certified/eligible as they read their own CTs. For reference I'm at a fellowship in Philadelphia.

I wouldn't mind my day to day responsibilities to be reading echos, doing TEEs, nucs and CTs. I'm hoping if I join a private practice I can take on these responsibilities and hopefully exchange that for less inpatient consult time. I like clinic so I can keep that as a major patient facing interaction. Is that feasible? I just really detest inpatient consults and would prefer to avoid being inpatient and rounding as much as possible.

What I don't want to end up doing is all the TEEs for TAVR, mitral clips and LAA closure devices. There's an advanced imaging guy at my institution and he literally does all the TEEs for these cases. They work this guy like a dog, and if cath lab decides to start the mitral clip at 430, well he's there until the case ends.

I want to be as in control over my time as I possibly can. I don't want my time dictated by the interventionalist or the EP. So i don't want to pursue advanced imaging if I end up in a job like this.

I've also talked to some faculty who took CT courses and got board certified on their own. Again, if all I really need for a good PP profile is CT proficient than it might not be worth it do a fellowship year.

Personally, I enjoy reading echos and nucs. While inherently i'm not the biggest fan of patient interaction (yes I realize now maybe i should have done radiology), I actually don't mind clinic. My fellow's clinic is well staffed, good amount of resources and attending's give us a lot of freedom to institute our plans. So going into practice I don't mind clinic responsibilities.

I just really want to re-iterate I hate inpatient and want to avoid it as much as possible.

There's 1 vs 2 year advanced imaging fellowship. One year for PET/CT/MRI and the 2nd year is usually for the advanced structural TEE experience.

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts. Those who decided against advanced imaging or pursued it or those who got CT boarded on their own.

Thank you guys!

Has anyone managed to get access to CardioSource resources including ACCSAP via their BCS membership benefits in the UK. Have not been successful despite multiple emails to BCS membership support as well as ACC customer service. TIA!

Resident hoping to apply this upcoming cycle.

Will be presenting at ACC - would it be inappropriate to reach out to some of the programs I’m interested in matching to and asking if any faculty / fellows who’ll be attending? Hoping to put a face to the name on my app.

I am considering a career in echocardiography or neurophysiology. As an echocardiologist would you recommend the career and what are the pros and cons? Is it a tough job which turns tiring in the long run?

Hi everyone, I am a resident applying for Cardiology Fellowship next year. I have been working on various research projects like case reports, literature reviews and meta-analysis, but many get rejected upon submission, likely due to areas needing improvement. I’m seeking a Cardiology Attending or a Fellow to review my projects and provide guidance before submission. Please DM me if interested. I would greatly appreciate their help. Thank you!

hey guys i'm a current first year fellow in the US.

Thinking about where and what kind of populations I want to work with when I finish training.

I'm interested in working with the indigenous/native american population in the US.

Does anyone have any tips on how to go about finding these kinds of opportunities. I've searched on the IHS website but they don't have any positions for specifically cardiology. Usually just family med or IM. Are there dedicated cardiologist at the IHS?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!