Adult Congenital Heart Disease as a Career? Examining Encouraging and Deterring Factors in the Global ACHD Survey.

BACKGROUND: There is a global mismatch between the number of adults with congenital heart disease and adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) cardiologists, potentially impacting patient outcomes. This survey explores factors influencing trainees and cardiologists' career choices in ACHD. METHODS...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Bravo-Jaimes K, Srour MHDO, Jenkins P, Luna-Lopez R, Tutarel O, Kandavello G, Guerrero-Chalela CE, García-Cruz E, Ackerman J, Elizari A, Valdez-Ramos M, Cupido B, Zentner D, Almasri M, Phillips S, McLeod CJ, Burchill LJ, Kamath C, Bullock-Palmer RP, Windram J
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2025
Country:España
Institution:Fundació Sant Joan de Déu
Repository:r-FSJD. Repositorio Institucional de Producción Científica de la Fundació Sant Joan de Déu
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:r-fsjd______::1bf822eb030e4c225234bc2b918d11ab
Online Access:https://fsjd.fundanetsuite.com/Publicaciones/ProdCientif/PublicacionFrw.aspx?id=28944
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:adult congenital heart disease
career choices
medical education
workforce
Description
Summary:BACKGROUND: There is a global mismatch between the number of adults with congenital heart disease and adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) cardiologists, potentially impacting patient outcomes. This survey explores factors influencing trainees and cardiologists' career choices in ACHD. METHODS: An online, anonymous global survey on demographics, ACHD as a career choice, encouraging and deterring factors assessed via a 5-point Likert scale and open-ended questions on recommending ACHD was distributed through targeted emails and social media. Responses meeting a 75% completion criterion were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. RESULTS: Among 811 included responses, most were from women (53.5%), aged 31 to 40 years (48.3%), White individuals (43.3%), non-Hispanic individuals (85%), from outside the ACHD field (79.0%), and from North America (42.7%). Only 30.9% of non-ACHD physicians considered specializing in ACHD despite 78.9% recommending it. Encouraging factors included awareness of ACHD significance, mentor influence, and clinical exposure. Key deterrents were inadequate financial incentives, limited job opportunities, and lengthy training. Regional variations showed that longer training duration and lack of compensation incentives were the main deterrents in North America. Suggested solutions included structured training programs, salary improvements, and early ACHD exposure during medical education. CONCLUSIONS: Less than a third of respondents considered ACHD as a career largely due to inadequate financial incentives, limited job opportunities, and long training duration. Addressing these barriers could enhance recruitment and help meet the growing demands of the ACHD population.

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