I know FM docs staff the ER in small-medium sized cities. Can IM docs work in the ER?
Can IM docs work in the ER?
Yes.
How much of a common practice is this and how competitive are IM's to work in the EM?
yep, my sister did IM residency. She worked in a rural urgent care and community hospital for few years, passed EM boards and then easily got a job at big urban hospital as EM doc
IM training does not prepare you to care for children or pregnant women/GYN problems which makes some rural ERs more likely to hire FM than IM if they can't actually get EM trained docs.