There are people who have "dual appointments". I personally know of two physicians working at two different academic centers who split their time between EM and IM. One was a "grandfathered" internist who works "part time" 8-10 shifts in the ED and also serves as one of the hospitalists in an observational medicine unit (an inpatient unit, not an EM obs unit). The other is a EM/IM dual residency trained, dual boarded doc who literally switches off every 2 weeks between an academic ED and a internal medicine teaching service. He tells me the only difference between his inpatient service and that of his IM colleagues is that the IM residents refer to his rounds as "speed rounds".
Both have joked that they have admitted patients to themselves. I always wonder if they have also blocked their own admissions to their own services...
In short, if you'd like to do it, you can probably find an academic center to let you practice
both EM and IM.
- H