What is an HF internist?

The group wrote that HF ​​internists are graduates of internal medicine training and complete additional training under the guidance of experienced AHFTC subspecialty cardiologists and their colleagues. Some residency programs in the U.S. already offer this type of training, and it can be used by internists who didn’t fit into cardiology but want to find a career treating heart patients. are often taken.

This level of training is in high demand. As more professional societies begin to embrace this career path, there may be even more opportunities for heart failure physicians.

Appealing a group’s proposal

Gorodeski and colleagues did not believe there would be any challenges in recruiting more HF physicians. For example, we need a “standardized, milestone-based curriculum tailored for non-cardiologists.” The group suggested this could happen in the near future.

Another potential challenge is that these programs can add an additional year of training to physicians who have already spent a significant number of years preparing to practice medicine.

“While we do not propose that caring for patients with heart failure requires a year focused on heart failure, we believe that the additional expertise would be of great benefit to the community and patient population.” the authors write. “We also want to empower and validate new graduates and current trainees who are seeking this additional training.”

Funding can also be a challenge, but this should become less of an issue as more people in the healthcare industry learn about this approach and see the clear benefits for patient care, the group added.

One final challenge worth highlighting is the potential for conflict between HF internists and HF-specialized cardiologists. Will physicians from these two backgrounds conflict in clinical care? Will patients be confused about these two titles impacting their care? The authors certainly raise these concerns, but at the same time He also shared confidence that cardiologists will be able to work together to find a solution.

While many strategies need to be identified and formalized to improve care for the growing number of patients with heart failure, we believe that increasing the qualifications of heart failure physicians is one approach that should be considered. We feel it,” the group concluded.

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