General Medicine
Those who work in general internal medicine have an expertise in managing uncertainty and problem solving as they work in diagnosing and treating a wide range of acute and long-term disorders which have been referred for a specialist opinion. As a result, they often have to deal with co-morbidities making it quite a complex job but are able to work within a multidisciplinary team as a major part of their job in order to bring the best outcomes for patients.
They work with other specialities if cases with an unknown diagnosis appear as they are basically specialist medical detectives! There is the opportunity to also specialise within internal medicine in areas like endocrinology and cardiology.
Speciality Breakdown
This is an uncoupled training programme after the foundation years and so the core training, usually two or three years, can be taken in internal medicine or acute medicine which falls under the same bracket. This is followed by another three years of speciality training before full qualification.
– This career is known for being flexible therefore offering a good work-life balance.
– It can be very rewarding as you will be able to solve the mysteries most other people haven’t been able to and give the patients the diagnosis they so desperately want.
– This is an extremely varied job and has similarities with general practice in the way that you have knowledge surrounding a huge range of diseases making you a very well-rounded doctor.
– Also, like general practice, there are opportunities within this career to have interests alongside which include academic research, roles in the community or non-clinical roles too.
– As mentioned previously, it is a very complex job which often involves dealing with co-morbidities and requires fast decision making and thinking on your feet as you have to manage lots of things at once, so it is definitely a challenge.
– The long training pathway involves rotating around several specialities and hospitals meaning it can be quite difficult to establish yourself as part of the team and adapt to new environments so often.
– Continuity of care is something that could have to be compromised as internal medicine doctors are usually at the end of patient’s journey and may not have the time to establish a really strong relationship with them and so once they are out of their care, it would be very unusual to see be able to care for them again.