Then you're ready to start training and mentoring young doctors and post-doctoral fellows. So you create a joint education program. Nonetheless, forging relationships among specialties is tricky. Successful partnerships take time and patience, and require more than politics to get a foot in the door. Each group must add value to the effort with their personalities and skills, Enzmann said.
Financial issues can be a stumbling block.
The problems involved in getting this kind of integrated service going are enormous, and not just on the physician side. Collaboration among cardiac subspecialists, like those in Iowa, Georgia, and Maryland, doesn't happen in a vacuum. When a new technology challenges the conventional way of treating patients, at first it is considered to be disruptive or even risky, and its use is highly restricted. But gradually, it becomes more refined and acceptable, and new techniques start confronting older ones and pushing them aside. For example, an endovascular center employs new specialists, called angiologists, who take care of patients, while surgeons perform procedures.