Thursday, April 11, 2013

Securing an Internal Medicine Job

By Amy Cline


What exactly is an internal medicine physician? To put it simply, an internal medicine physician (or internist) is a medical doctor who has been trained and educated to treat a broad spectrum of medicine, however, they do not diagnose or treat children.

This may be an oversimplification of the practice of internal medicine it is actually not far off the mark. Internal medicine physicians can enter in to any number of the 13 different sub-specialites including cardiology and oncology but they are not considered to be family practitioners. Excluding internists from the specialty of family medicine physician who often do treat children is what sets them apart. Internal medicine physicians do receive the same basic medical training as all other physicians. Upon entering in to their residencies they concentrate on one of the 12 specific areas of adult medicine. Some internists do however choose not to sub-specialize and focus on general internal medicine.

Like any other physician licensed to practice in the U.S., internal medicine physicians typically must complete a bachelor's degree program before medical school and then participate in a three-year residency program before they are qualified to take an internal medicine position. An internal medicine subspecialty also requires one to three years of additional training, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Here is an outline of the educational requirements for an internal medicine physician:

Undergraduate education: Pre-medical courses must be completed at an accredited undergraduate university and a passing grade on the Medical College Admission Test or MCAT. Most medical school entrants have at least a Bachelor's degree upon entering medical school.

Medical school: Four years of training at an accredited medical school (to obtain an M.D. degree) or osteopathic school (to obtain a D.O. degree). Training requires successful completion of science coursework and clinical experience, as well as medical licensing exams.

Residency: If internal medicine is your primary focus, three years of training is required in this specialty followed by successful passage of the Internal medicine Board exam.

Optional fellowship training: Internists may remain specialized in general internal medicine, or may choose to complete a one to three year post-residency fellowship program (program length varies depending on specialty but generally range from 1-3 years) in one of the thirteen subspecialties of internal medicine mention above.

The American College of Physicians notes that internal medicine jobs are generally located in hospital and private practice settings. Internists who fill those jobs often act as both a primary care physician and as a consultant to the patients other physicians.

The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that, as of 2008, the average salary range for a doctor specializing in internal medicine is between approximately $175,000 and $210,000 annually.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment