This spring, Mark K. Tuttle, MD, joined our team as the FIT Section editor. Over his two-year tenure, he’ll be working to help us bring articles written by FITs for FITs — to inform and educate on topics that’ll help in your daily work life. Contact him @marktuttle and include #CardiologyIntMag in your tweet.

Tuttle is an interventional cardiology fellow in the division of cardiovascular medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, MA. He received his bachelor’s degree from Brown University and his medical degree from the University of Toledo College of Medicine where he was the recipient of the Dean’s Award. He completed his internal medicine residency, chief residency and general cardiology fellowship at BIDMC, where he was honored with the Fellow Teaching Award.

A fellow at Harvard Medical School, Tuttle’s academic interests include medical education, health care delivery science and the interface of technology and medicine. After completing fellowship training, Tuttle plans to pursue a career in academic interventional cardiology and structural heart disease. Tuttle talked with Cardiology: Interventions about a good day at work, being a technophile and more.

What are the areas of interventional cardiology that you find exciting?

One of the most appealing aspects is the immediacy of the positive impact we can have on patients, which is rare in internal medicine subspecialties. A patient with a critically stenosed artery feels immediately better. In many other field in internal medicine, it may take years for therapies to have a noticeable impact.

Describe a great day at work.

I’m very fortunate that most days are great days at work. My typical day goes something like this: Wake up at 6 am and bike three miles to BIDMC on a dedicated bike path (Boston drivers can’t be trusted), grab a cup of dark roast coffee in the fellows’ lounge, and see my post-procedure patients from the day before.

By this time, all four of our cath labs are in full swing, and my co-fellows and I’ll divide and conquer the cases of PCI, peripheral intervention, pericardiocentesis and structural heart disease for the day. I head home on my bike as the sun sets and eat dinner with my better half. Then I rinse and repeat!

What’s your focus in the research arena?

I recently finished analysis of a project examining the duration of hemostatic compression device application after radial-approach cardiac catheterization. I was surprised there had been a lack of data, despite the importance of balancing the duration of compression and risk.

Rapid removal has the potential to contribute to a risk of bleeding/hematoma and an extended duration has the potential to contribute to a risk of radial artery occlusion and inefficient hospital throughput. At BIDMC, we conducted a study to examine the optimal duration of compression. We showed that 30 minutes of compression, compared with two hours, did not increase the risk of serious complications. I presented these data at SCAI and our manuscript is forthcoming.

What’s the role of social media for fellows and physicians today? Both for education and training and for interacting with patients.

Social media — particularly Twitter, and specifically #CardioTwitter — has emerged as a wide-reaching tool for collaboration on challenging cases and critique of emerging evidence. Caution must also be taken when posting on these venues since our profiles are public and easily seen by patients; professionalism must extend to our public persona.

"One of the most appealing aspects [of interventional cardiology] is the immediacy of the positive impact we can have on patients." — Mark K. Tuttle, MD

You’re a self-described avid technophile. How has your appreciation for technology helped you or influenced you as you’ve trained in interventional cardiology?

From a very early age, I’ve been fascinated by technology. My mom likes to share a picture of me using one of the original Macintosh computers — at just three years old! This turned out to be a very telling moment. Working as a senior web developer during a “gap year” before medical school almost resulted in a career change because I had so much fun. While I know I made the right choice to pursue medicine, I’ve been seeking ways to integrate these interests. From a clinical perspective, interventional cardiology easily fulfills me in this regard.

However, the medical community overall still lags behind other fields in the adoption of technology in certain respects. We’re on the cusp of having self-driving cars and yet I still must use a fax machine — an early 20th century technology — to obtain medical records from other institutions! Thankfully, many people are helping to address these shortcomings and I hope to join in this initiative. I can’t share too much at the moment — but check the App Store in 2019 for a tool to improve interaction between patients and health care providers.

What’s your “fix” for work-life balance and avoiding burnout?

The easy answer is to choose a field that really motivates you, so spending time at work isn’t so taxing. But clearly this isn’t so easy to accomplish, given the high rates of burnout in the medical field. One key I’ve found is to seek out an area where you get along really well with all the people you work with on a daily basis — not just other physicians — but also the nurses, technologists, nursing assistants, and administrative staff.

Who has helped you along the way? How have your mentors affected who you are as a physician?

I’ve been very fortunate to have some truly wonderful mentors over the years. Christopher Cooper, MD, FACC, of the University of Toledo College of Medicine helped plant the seed of cardiology — and specifically interventional cardiology — and Duane Pinto, MD, MPH, FACC, from BIDMC helped show me the way both as a resident and a general fellow. While it is a lofty goal to have a career approaching either of theirs, if I can emulate a fraction of their excellent care of patients, I will be immensely satisfied.

Keywords: ACC Publications, Cardiology Interventions, Internship and Residency, Fellowships and Scholarships, Schools, Medical, Internal Medicine, Awards and Prizes

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