ABC | Volume 113, Nº1, July 2019

Original Article Faganello et al The profile of the brazilian cardiologist Arq Bras Cardiol. 2019; 113(1):62-68 Figure 5 – Quality of life. Time dedicated to the family and leisure activities (per week) 45% 35% 25% 15% 5% 0% 40% 30% 20% 10% 41.3% 42.7% 32.3% 23.5% 17.1% 19.9% 9.1% 13.5% ≤ 10h 11-20h 21-30h > 31h Self-care 10.0% 7.0% 50.3% 53.7% 28.3% 39.3% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Very careful Careful Careless Men Women plans. These plans pay a relatively low price per service to the physicians, who feel discouraged to set up and maintain their own clinics. This change in the professional scenario may also be related to the fact that younger cardiologists are concerned not only about seeking more immediate revenue but also about investing in complementary pension. Despite the high work load, only 11.3% of cardiologists perceived stress as a great deal. A study published by Mescape 10 concluded that 46% of North-American cardiologists had symptoms of burnout, similar to the frequency reported in other specialties like pneumology and nephrology. Although the questionnaire used in the study did not include specific criteria for the diagnosis of burnout, data have suggested that there are considerable differences between Brazilians and North-Americans regarding the perception of stress at work, which can be related to sociocultural differences. Also, there is a relatively lower occurrence of medical lawsuits among Brazilian cardiologists. While 0.3% of our sample reported having been condemned, a study published in the American Heart Journal in 2014 11 reported a rate of malpractice lawsuits of 8.6% in North America and a 1% condemnation rate. The practice of physical exercise has well-established cardiovascular benefits and should be encouraged. In our study, however, 31% of cardiologists did not practice exercise. Only 11% of North-American cardiologists reported to be physically inactive. 10 This difference may be due to the higher workload faced by physicians in Brazil. Although the percentage of smokers was relatively low, a high percentage of cardiologists reported they were careless about their health (39.4%). Regarding alcohol consumption, 34.3% of respondents reported a frequency of two times a week or more; 49% of North American cardiologists consumed up to one drink per week. These data indicate that institutional campaigns aimed at promoting the adoption of healthy habits and self-care among Brazilian cardiologists should be considered. The use of technology has facilitated the search for knowledge and contributed in different aspects of daily life; also, it has allowed patients to communicate more directly with their doctors. In our study, most cardiologists reported to use any kind of technology on a daily basis in their work. A significant percentage (40.6%) of cardiologists is contacted daily by patients through technology device, which adds to the debate about the availability of physicians to respond to patients’ emails or on social media. According to the Brazilian Medical Council’s resolution, published in 2002, 12 despite numerous positive consequences of telemedicine, it is related to serious ethical and legal issues. Considering the exponential use of social media by physicians, including for patient-doctor communication, the Medical Council, in 2017, 13 recognized the importance of the social media and stablished rules of conduct in this context. There has been increasing interest in issues of spirituality in the medical practice. In the BSC, a group of study on spirituality and cardiovascular medicine was created. In the present study, although 54.7% of participants considered that spirituality was very useful in the treatment of the patients, 14.2% has never talked about this subject with their patients and most (54.1%) of them did it only eventually. This difference may be related to the scarcity of validated qualification in the area. 66