Why internal medicine

That complexity, while frustrating at times especially for the patient, is an attractive part of the deal. You get to care for many patients and help them feel a lot better. Another reason why you should pick internal medicine is that it has a lot of doors for opportunities and options in general. I can finish my residency and become a hospitalist or an internist.

I can also work in an outpatient setting. If I want, I can do more training and choose to become a cardiologist , oncologist, pulmonologist, ICU doctor, and many other options. Even after that, you can become a cardiologist and then focus on heart failure. You can also become a cardiologist and focus on electrophysiology.

Those doors of opportunity based off of your interests , the kind of patients you want to see, or the lifestyle you want are there. That flexibility is definitely more so in internal medicine than any other fields! Even with all these doors of opportunity, your training is still relatively short.

On the other hand, somebody in internal medicine can go into a three-year program. Then, he can choose to do a three-year fellowship and can still be done before the neuro resident colleague.

Obviously, I want my brain surgeon to be really well-trained, so respect to those who do it. Six years may seem like a lot to many of you, but once you get through this process it seems like nothing. The idea that I can go to a lot of different routes is definitely attractive.

You can essentially paint the career in the future you want! I loved this about IM and it may be why Internal Medicine is the best for your situation and family. I can choose to shift careers. I can work in a hospital setting, go into an outpatient setting, or go back into academics. You have this for other specialties too, but there are so many jobs in internal medicine.

More likely than not, I will be able to find a job in the location we want. That flexibility and the ability to still work with patients, career, and location I love, make it perfect!

Sure, that too, but I was steadfast in defending my career choice as one that had purpose and meaning and that I too was making this decision in an explicit way that capitalized on my talents and interests as a doctor. I am both humbled and honored that my patients trust me to take care of them and share with me some of their deepest secrets and fears.

It is my belief that the patient physician encounter is a sacred space and I commit daily to seeing my patients as persons and not diseases. Is the job hard? Of course it is. Anything worth doing is hard work. Is it worth it?

Unequivocally my answer to this is yes. I am still in love with the subject matter of medicine and yes, the career has allowed me to connect in ways that I find meaningful with my patients, colleagues and family. Kristin Collier. Why Internal Medicine? Recent Posts See All. Post not marked as liked 1. Post not marked as liked In some European countries a significant proportion of internists have an office-based practice with links to local hospitals.

Such an internist is not, however, a "family physician" who looks after a much broader range of problems including obstetrics and surgery, and including children as well as adults. University departments responsible for teaching medical students are usually supervised by a professor of internal medicine who maintains the right balance between the different medical subspecialties that makes up the students' training.

Such departments also provide training for postgraduate qualification in internal medicine as a specialty, a process which takes five years in most European countries and which requires a qualifying exam in many. The specialty of internal medicine is one of the specialties recognised by the permanent committee of medicine of the EU in Brussels.