The connection between internal medicine and cardiology

The leading cause of death among Americans is heart disease. This is why regular visits to cardiologists are extremely important past the age of 35. That age is lower for people who have a family history of heart ailments, and lower still for patients with medical his-tories of heart disease.

Naturally, patients want and deserve only the best professionals the American healthcare system can provide. Because of this, we thought it prudent to discuss cardiologists themselves, and how their practice is irrevocably tied to internal medicine.

Doctors of internal medicine are general physicians, who have studied and trained in di-agnosis, prevention, treatment, and care of patients, mostly adults. They have studied for years in med school and passed the board to become professionals. Because of this, they are certified in all the important multi-system disease processes.

Within the scope of internal medicine is looking into patient histories, conducting physi-cal check-ups, diagnosing illnesses, and prescribing medication. Surgery is not included. Doctors of internal medicine usually practice in hospitals and clinics.

How does this all connect to cardiology?

Internal medicine is a specialization that can branch out to several subspecialties. For ex-ample, a doctor of internal medicine can pursue further studies in the field of endocrinol-ogy and become an endocrinologist, or obstetrics and gynecology and become and OB-Gyn.

Cardiology is one of the many paths of an internal medicine doctor. It usually takes an additional number of years, but this is all required in order to give patients the best ser-vice the healthcare industry can offer.

Ian Weisberg, M.D., is a Cardio Electro-physiology Specialist based in Pensacola, Florida. He obtained his medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine and has been in practice for 20 years. He completed his fellowship in Cardio Electrophysiology at the University of Chicago. Learn more about taking care of your heart on this blog.