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Their job is to provide long term care and nonsurgical treatment, in the office as well as in the hospital, of patients suffering with chronic illnesses. Some internists specialize in specific illnesses like cardiovascular disease, clinical cardiac electrophysiology, endocrinology, and diabetes. They are also trained to assist patients with their overall general health, assist them with substance abuse, and help them with general eye, ear, nose, and mouth problems.

yeyevirayThe specific areas of study for internal medicine are cardiology, which deals with disorders of the heart and blood vessels, hematology, which deals with with blood, the blood-forming organs and its disorders. There’s also pulmonology, which deals with diseases of the lungs and the respiratory tract, rheumatology, devoted to the diagnosis and therapy of rheumatic diseases, adolescent medicine, critical care medicine, geriatric medicine, interventional cardiology, sleep medicine, sports medicine, transplant hepatology. There are two organizations that are responsible for certifying doctors in these particular fields. They are the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Osteopathic Board of Internal Medicine.

In order to receive a certificate in internal medicine, one must have attended and graduated from an accredited medical course of study in either the United States or Canada. This includes premedical coursework, which normally takes from 3 to 4 years to complete. This premedical coursework is followed by graduate schooling which can also take between 3 and 4 years to complete. They also must have completed 36 months of graduate medical education, recognized by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or ACGME. One is also required to present documents showing that they are clinically competent and show an understanding of patient care, medical knowledge, ability to practice and learn from mistakes, communication skills, level of professionalism, and familiarity with the various systems related to the job. To complete all the required courses can take anywhere from 10 to 12 years, depending on the rules and regulations of the state that one is seeking to receive certification in.

The future for this career, as with most other medical careers, looks extremely promising in the coming years. With surgeons and doctors retiring every year, more doctors and surgeons are needed to replace them. 633,000 physicians and surgeons were employed in 2006 and that number is expected to rise to 723,000 in 2016, a growth of nearly 100,000. It is expected to be a gradual increase, due to the fact that schooling for internists can take more than a decade to complete. The pay for an internist can vary as reported by two different medical reports. According to a report published by Medical Group Management Association, someone practicing general internal medicine with less than two years of specialty can expect to make around $141,912 a year, or $166,420 with over one year of experience. But in the 2008 Physician Compensation Survey featured in Modern Healthcare, it was found that internists were earning between $175,200 and $209,845 annually.