Cardiac Surgeon
A cardiologist is a physician who specializes in circulatory and cardiac system. They focus on finding, treating, and preventing diseases that can affect the heart, the arteries, and the veins. A majority of their time is spent in diagnosing and treating conditions such as blocked arteries, heart diseases, and other cardiac injuries. Heart surgeons are constantly aware of issues like high cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure. When a patient is referred to a cardiologist from their family doctor, they will be looked at for any risk factors that could possibly be damaging the heart. Such risk factors include obesity, an inactive lifestyle, smoking, poor eating habits, or a family history of heart disease.
What do they do?
Cardiologists usually meet with a patient when there is an evident or potential problem at hand regarding their cardiac health. The cardiologist will sit with the new patient and go over their medical history, and run basic tests including a check on their current physical condition, listen to their heart for any irregularities, and talk about any relevant symptoms. If there is a possibility of a problem they can run tests like EKG's, x-rays, stress tests, biopsies, and blood tests. After reviewing the test results, the cardiologist can then diagnose any abnormalities, congenital heart defects, or heart and coronary artery conditions that they find. Many of these conditions are then treated with medication, diet, or specific surgical procedures deemed appropriate by the surgeon.
Workplace
Hospital or office within a medical building. Cardiac Surgeons are usually on-call.
What do they do?
Cardiologists usually meet with a patient when there is an evident or potential problem at hand regarding their cardiac health. The cardiologist will sit with the new patient and go over their medical history, and run basic tests including a check on their current physical condition, listen to their heart for any irregularities, and talk about any relevant symptoms. If there is a possibility of a problem they can run tests like EKG's, x-rays, stress tests, biopsies, and blood tests. After reviewing the test results, the cardiologist can then diagnose any abnormalities, congenital heart defects, or heart and coronary artery conditions that they find. Many of these conditions are then treated with medication, diet, or specific surgical procedures deemed appropriate by the surgeon.
Workplace
Hospital or office within a medical building. Cardiac Surgeons are usually on-call.