TMC015: Cardiology with Dr Kate Rankin

TMC Podcast: Interviews with Medical Specialists

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Dr Kate Rankin is a cardiology registrar at Eastern Health. Originally from rural Victoria, Kate has travelled to wonderful cities and brought back world-class skills from these conferences during her training. We discuss what she enjoys about cardiology, including the split between “fixing” ill patients and “equipping” them for and following them up in the future. Kate provides insights on how to deal with those patients that simply won’t listen, a situation we can all relate to!

Kate explains the growing number and complexity of subspecialties within cardiology, and whether a PhD is necessary to work in metropolitan Melbourne. She delves into some of these subspecialties and the exciting changes in surgery, pacemakers and imaging that are on the horizon. We discuss her typical day, ranging from the “puzzle” of patients presenting to ED to the long-term changes cardiologists can make, such as Kate’s unique initiative that has reduced hospital re-admission rates for those with heart failure.

We learn about the culture of doctors supporting their sleep-deprived colleagues and the importance of finding a “release” and “turning your brain off” outside of medicine. Finally, we get more great advice on several hot topics. These range from making yourself known as a medical student to tips for interns and taking time off. Kate encourages us to always keep the world outside of medicine in mind and justifies why it’s okay to change your mind throughout your medical career. This includes degrees we can complete outside of medicine to broaden the scope of our thinking and understanding.

We hope you guys enjoy this podcast! Feel free to send through any questions you may have for Dr Kate Rankin. As always, we’d love any feedback on this week’s episode by filling out the survey.

Pathways into Cardiology:

Medical School → Internship → Basic Physicians Training (3 years Full Time Equivalent) → Advanced Physicians Training in Cardiology (3 years Full Time Equivalent).

Advanced Physician Training can be undertaken in Adult Medicine, Paediatrics or Child Health.

Source: Royal Australian College of Physicians.

Salary

According to the Australian Government Taxation Data, in the 2013-14 income year we had:

• 151 female cardiologists earning an average of $215,920
• 651 male cardiologists earning an average of $453,253

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We’d also like to give a quick shoutout to Melbourne artist SNED for composing the music accompanying our introduction.