The Implications of Acute Clinical Care Responsibilities on the Contemporary Practice of Interventional Cardiology

The responsibilities of the interventional cardiologist (IC) have evolved in contemporary practice to include substantial acute care clinical duties outside of the cardiac catheterization laboratory. In particular, the IC has assumed a central role in the global management of myocardial infarction and other acute coronary syndromes in the intensive care unit and beyond. These duties have expanded to include many nonprocedural tasks. The Interventional Section Leadership Council (ISLC) of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) therefore recommends: 1) these implications should be directly considered in the ACC's future planning and policy statements concerning manpower, competence, education, and reimbursement; 2) the development of an acute care cardiology subspecialty should be undertaken; 3) steps should be taken to adjust the number of ICs primarily on the basis of optimizing procedural volume and quality; and 4) the annual number of coronary interventions performed should not solely define competence in the future, but should include the performance of acute cardiology responsibilities.