Workforce issues are another big topic at AHA – and a big topic in the overall health care reform debate as well. Yesterday, I attended a meeting of the Women in Cardiology Council. This Council works on workforce issues specific to female cardiologists and encourages women in medical school to enter the field of cardiology by providing mentors. Despite the growth in the number of female medical school graduates, there has been little growth in the number of women entering cardiology. Given the problems in our health care system with disparities in care, this is a significant problem, especially as growing numbers of female heart disease patients request female physicians!

Today, I met with members of the Cardiology Training & Workforce Committee. We discussed how to encourage more medical students to enter cardiology. One suggestion was to reduce the length of training for fellows – this could make specializing in cardiology a less daunting task, but this needs to be balanced with making sure that fellows receive enough training to provide the highest quality of care. Concerns among members about the supply of cardiovascular specialists are growing, given the large number of practitioners who are on the verge of retirement. Something like 43% of general cardiologists are over the age of 55! Combine that with an aging population and you have a recipe for disaster.

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