The great thing about medicine is that there are so many specialities to explore! This article will go through how life as a cardiologist is like and the route to becoming a cardiologist.

Life as a Cardiologist

As a cardiologist, you will focus on the heart and blood vessels in the body. Common conditions you would encounter include:

• Heart attacks
• Angina
• Arrhythmias (irregular heart beat)
• Heart valve disease
• Cardiomyopathy (disease of heart muscle)
• Heart murmurs

On a day-to-day basis, cardiologists engage in various activities, such as ward rounds, imaging, and conduct minor surgeries. They can also work in clinics and laboratories. Their work is mainly carried out in hospitals. They interact with members of the multi-disciplinary team: radiologists, surgeons, nurses and pharmacists.

Cardiologists require effective communication, good problem-solving skills and the ability to manage well under pressure. Alongside hospital jobs, cardiologists can teach university students or be involved in research.

It is important to recognise that cardiology is different from cardiothoracic surgery. In this speciality, surgeons carry out major surgery on the heart, lungs and oesophagus.

Salary when doing your foundation training ranges from £29,384 to £34,012. As you do speciality training in cardiology, your pay starts at £40,257 and increases to between £84,559 and £114,003 when you become a consultant.

Why should I become a cardiologist?

There are many benefits to becoming a cardiologist. The most important thing to have is a passion for the speciality! You will encounter many patients with heart issues during your time at medical school and will have rotations in cardiology to allow you to see how life as a cardiologist is like. Benefits of cardiology include:

• Making a massive difference to the lives of patients with heart diseases
• You can work abroad in any place you like
• There is flexibility and an opportunity to work part-time
• There is a great pension scheme
• You get good holiday entitlement

The route to becoming a cardiologist

The main thing to do to become a cardiologist is to apply to medical school. Future Doc offers 1 ON 1 Mentoring to help you with your application! To apply to medical school you will need:

• Good A-level grades (usually including an A in Chemistry)
• Good GCSE grades
• To take the medical school admissions test (UCAT)
• A personal statement
• To apply to universities using UCAS
• To pass your interviews

Some medical schools may take into account the area you live in, your family circumstances or the school you went to when you make your application to medical school. They can then offer you a contextual offer where you can get into medical school using slightly lower grade requirements.

If you haven’t done A-level subjects that meet the medical school requirements, you can apply to medical school with a foundation course. Check out our previous post here to learn more about foundation courses.

After you have applied to medical school, you will do a 2-year foundation programme where you will work as a junior doctor in hospitals. You can then apply for speciality training which takes a minimum of 8 years to complete.

Written by Naa-Dromoh Quarshie