what qualiifications that are required before i can be a cardiologist?

Answer 1

In the United States, cardiology is a subspecialty of internal medicine. This means that in order to become a cardiologist, one has to first obtain the training necessary to practice internal medicine, and then obtain further training in order to practice the subspecialty of cardiology.

Additionally, there are now sub-subspecialties of cardiology such as interventional cardiology (using xray guidance to pass catheters up the arteries into the heart, study it with xray dye, and then actually stretch open the arteries of the heart using balloon dilators and stents), electrophysiology (monitoring the complex problems of arrhythmia, implanting and programming pacemakers and implantible defibrillating devices) and echocardiography (studying the heart with ultrasound imaging).

Many cardiologists offer general medical care for heart patients as well as having one or more areas within cardiology as their special niche. Many of these physicians has spent time and energy beyond the basic training of cardiology in order to gain this special expertise.

In general, in order to become a cardiologist, one would be a college graduate (at least 4 years, and usually 5 or 6 to do both a college major and premedical coursework) a graduate of an accredited medical school (4 years of work) and then a graduate of an internal medicine residency (typically 3 years). At that point, one is eligible to become board certified in internal medicine, and to begin training as a cardiologist.

Cardiology training then would consist of a 2 or 3 year program and additional examinations in order to be certified by the American Board of Medical Specialties as a cardiologist. Most physicians would then continue with an additional year or so if they had a specific interest within cardiology that they wanted to incorporate into their career plans.

To summarize:

1) college (4 to 6 years)
2) medical school (4 years)
3) internal medicine (3 years)
4) cardiology (3 years)
5) subspecialty interests (1+ additional/optional)

A final note: Cardiology is HIGHLY COMPETETIVE. Anyone interested in this career would be best served by competing for the STRONGEST medical school diploma, and the most well recognized medicine residency possible. One would be essentially unable to enter a cardiology training program without a rock solid academic background including research. If this is what you want to do, you have to compete against many others who want the same thing, and you have to demonstrate that you're BETTER, every time.

I hope that helps!

Answer 2

What none of the answerers have addressed thus far is that in order to practice internal medicine, you must take a board exam, that lasts a few days. Again to practice cardiology, you have to take another board exam, and if you choose a subspecialty, that would mean another board exam. Each of these is rather pricey, so you would want to make every effort to pass these the first time you take them. This is in addition to the FLEX or federal licensure exam, which, in my state, is a four day test. Twenty years ago each of these exams ran over a thousand dollars. There is some talk of having doctors re-certify every seven to ten years also.

Answer 3

M.D.[Cardiologist]. Additional experience & presentation of articles in international medical magazines will be an added advantage.
Please see the webpage for more details on Cardiology.

Answer 4

You need to study medicine first, then do a masters in cardiology, i'm not too sure how many years that takes where you're from.

Answer 5

Four years of college, four of med school, one year internship, probably three years of residency before you can get your ticket.