Increasing Demand for Internists Presents Variety of Career Paths for Doctors

Although most physicians have many options for employment and practice opportunities, internists are enjoying an increase in demand in recent years, which has allowed them to expand their horizons to include a wider variety of professional options.

Internists, who practice a broad scope of adult disease prevention and management, can choose from a number of interesting career paths, due to the scope and breadth of their knowledge. Further adding to the versatility of an internist's career is the increasing demand for hospitalists to treat patients admitted to hospitals, to alleviate the on-call schedules for the primary care doctors.

A physician who has trained in internal medicine is able to choose from owning his or her own traditional office-based practice, or being employed by a hospital and working a shift-based block schedule, which typically allows more time off for family and fun! Also, internists may ultimately decide to complete two or three additional years of fellowship training, to subspecialize in a particular system of the body, such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, or digestive system. These subspecialties are outlined briefly in the career profile for internal medicine, and soon each of the subspecialties will be profiled individually in further detail on this site, so please stay tuned!

Physician Career Profiles:

• Internist - Internal Medicine and Subspecialties
• Hospitalist - Additional career option for Internists