A poll from a decade ago found a discrepancy between internal medicine residents’ professional development priorities and their views on cardiology, and no data from the present day supports this finding. For the sake of attracting and retaining a diverse and skilled cardiology staff in the future, this data is crucial. This study aimed to determine how residents’ perceptions of cardiology and their professional development affected their decision to specialize. After some revisions, the questionnaire from the original study in 2010 was distributed to US internal medicine residency programs. The participants (internal medicine residents) ranked 20 perspectives on cardiology and 38 preferences for continuing education.

The results of the 2020 poll were compared to those of the 2010 study. Researchers developed multivariate models for the selection of specialization by transforming categorical factors into binary ones and employing scaled independent variables dichotomized using the top 2 choices. The correlation between demographic factors, survey responses, and future occupations was studied using multivariate models. They looked at the responses from both sexes, compared them to those from a decade ago, and broke them down by whether or not respondents were considering a career in cardiology. The median (standard deviation) age was 29.24 years old, and 55.4% of the participants were white. The poll included questions about demographics and those asked on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important). Positive role models (4.56 on a Likert scale), a stimulating career (3.81), and a family-friendly work environment were the essential aspects of professional development (3.78) that interfered with family life during training (3.93), and having encountered favorable role models or having positive views on cardiovascular disease as a topic were the cardiology perception statements with the highest agreement (3.85).

A multivariate model consisting of 22 variables was used to predict the selection of cardiology as a profession. The results of this study showed that both male and female residents placed a higher value on aspects of work-life balance compared to the last poll in 2010; however, the shift was more pronounced among male respondents. There was an increase in the percentage of modern residents who agreed with negative stereotypes about cardiology compared to those from the past. This survey indicated that loce and female locals place a premium on having access to resources that help them strike a healthy work-life balance, a trend that has only strengthened over the last decade and that plays a role in their professional decisions. Unfortunately, cardiology’s unfavorable reputation continues to grow. Making cardiology a more welcoming workplace could attract more people to the field.

Source: jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/article-abstract/2797068

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