The Joys of Internal Medicine Employment

Author: Lisa

When entering into the study of internal medicine you will challenge your mind and body in ways you never anticipated. Expect your training in the field to be complex, rigorous, and incredibly rewarding.
The first step in your journey to becoming a internal medicine practitioner is to obtain an undergraduate degree from an accredited college or university. Under typical circumstance this will take four years. Next you will need to earn your basic entry level medical education. Again, this will generally take four years. The second step in the process will be the most intense and challenging aspect of your student career. This is the time when you will prove your resolve and tenacity to your professors, other medical professionals, and most importantly to yourself. However once you have accomplished this remarkable task you will find a whole new world open to you. As a newly graduated internal medicine practitioner you will next have to decide if you want to specialize in internal medicine, or perhaps a different sub specialty. You can choose to treat the human body as a whole, or you can specialize in a specific organ, system, or disease. This next course of study could potentially take up to six years to complete. This time will be much different than your previous educational experiences. One of the most important differences is your new salary. That's right, you will no longer pay tuition. The medical facility you choose to continue your training at will now be paying you as a regular salaried employee. Additionally, you will be a fully certified internal medicine physician who no longer spends their time in the classroom, but spends their days treating and diagnosing patients. Once you have completed your specialty or sub specialty training you are now free to pursue your new career with hundreds of different employment opportunities. The most common type of employment for a internal medicine practitioner is in a hospital setting. You could even choose to open your very own medical practice.
To date, the medical field represents a huge number of available jobs. Unfortunately there will never be a shortage of sick patients who need your help. Employment growth consistently accounts for job openings, as does the unique need to replace retiring physicians from the baby boomer era. Therefore you have access to a career where new jobs are always being created.
The very core of your employment is the patient. The patient is why you continue to push yourself, and to further your knowledge. You now posses a very powerful and very rare ability. The ability to heal. The ability to change a life. It is now up to you to draw upon your education, and your vast experience to treat, mend, and even prevent any number of medical aliments. No other career can promise the kind of fulfillment as internal medicine.

About the Author:

To learn more about careers in internal medicine visit the internal medicine locum tenens jobs page for more information and how to apply for a job.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - The Joys of Internal Medicine Employment

Internal Medicine

Author: Lisa

Doctors who choose this specialty are concerned with disease management, non surgical treatments and diagnosis, usually of unusual, chronic or very serious diseases. Many people see internists, or internal medicine physicians, as their primary doctors. These doctors are also often called “internists”, “general internists” along with “doctors of internal medicine”

To become an internist one must first graduate medical school and then complete a year or two of internship, which is supervised training usually in a hospital. After an internship is completed one must complete specialized training, known as a residency, for a year in either internal medicine or a sub specialties. There are many subspecialties of internal medicine, 13 to be exact. Just a few of these are cardiology, gastroenterology, infectious disease and pulmonary disease just to name a few. A fellowship is an option following subspecialty residency training. This is one to three more years of study/practice in a specialty. When this is complete a candidate can be certified by either the American Board of Internal Medicine or the American Osteopathic Board of Internal Medicine. Since medicine is always evolving and changing even after a internal medicine doctor completes all his training he is still required to earn continuing educational credits on a yearly basis in order to renew his license. This isn’t usually formal classroom training but involves seminars and the like.

When an internist is done with his schooling and training they have the option of opening their own private practice, a partnership with other doctors, or working for clinics or hospitals.

Internists care for the whole patient whatever the problem, simple or complex. They also try to instill and understanding of disease prevention and the promotion of good health in their patients.
Internists or Internal Medicine doctors shouldn’t be confused with “general practitioners”, or “family practitioners”. Internists practice is directed solely to adults while family practice doctors can include surgery, obstetrics and pediatrics.

As an example of just what the basics of an internists job would entail, the first thing a internal medicine doctor would do to treat a patient is to take a medical history. This is the patient telling the internist what has happened to them medically in the past and what is happening that brought them to the doctor. The second step is a physical exam where the internist may detect symptoms of disease that the patient may not. Usually at this point the doctor is able to form a list of possible diagnoses. Sometimes multiple disease processes are identified. To narrow down the diagnosis blood tests, x-rays and other tests may be ordered. These results can give the internal medicine doctor a diagnosis or he/she may choose to order further tests such as biopsy for cancer or cultures for specialized infections.

Although this type of career takes quite a bit of training and holds a large amount of responsibility when completed the pay is good. The average salary for a internal medicine practitioner in the United States is $165,234.

About the Author:

To learn more about careers in internal medicine visit the internal medicine locum tenens jobs page for more information and how to apply for a job.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Internal Medicine