GP vs Internist

[HK42]

Can someone tell the real difference between these two other than what I know:

1)subspecialties are more readily available to Internal Medicine residents.

2) Internal Medicine is harder to get into.

3) Family Medicine means you can play with kids and dogs professionally. (okay not dogs).

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[deleted87716]

Check the FAQs stickied in the Internal Medicine and Family Medicine forums.

 

[tulane06]

In Family Medicine, you will do more routine things such as basic health screenings and education. You will also see a wider variety of people. In Internal Medicine you will do more advanced problem solving and more procedures, but your patients will tend to be older adults.

 

[deleted87716]

In Internal Medicine you will do more advanced problem solving and more procedures

Not really. FPs and internists see the exact same adult pathology. FPs typically perform more procedures than IM, as well. Again, read the FAQs.

 

[HK42]

Personally I don't want to read the FAQs so much as read what people here have to say because I suspect this would be more honest and less PR.

It really seems GPs have a monkey on their back for not being internists, and that the only real advantages to family medicine are PED and OB/GYN access. I want to know who honestly chooses family medicine over internal medicine and if it is for any reasons other than PED and OB/GYN.

 

[deleted87716]

It really seems GPs have a monkey on their back for not being internists, and that the only real advantages to family medicine are PED and OB/GYN access.

The advantage of family medicine training is that it enables you to practice family medicine. 😉

Seriously. I didn't want to just see adults. It's pretty much that simple.

As for anyone having a "monkey on their back," you apparently haven't heard some of the discussions taking place in IM circles:

http://doctorrw.blogspot.com/2006/07/internal-medicines-identity-crisis.html

http://www.acponline.org/journals/news/mar98/future.htm

Interestingly, as internists talk about becoming better generalists, FP's are talking about specialization:

http://www.aafp.org/fpm/20070200/13spec.html

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 😉

Incidentally, there's nothing dishonest or "PR" about SDN's FAQs. They were written by members, just like the comments you'll read here.

 

[soonereng]

FPs typically perform more procedures than IM, as well.

It's funny that you say that because we had an IM interest group meeting a couple weeks ago at my school, and the Med/Ped attending who was speaking said that IM did more procedures.

Speaking of Med/Ped, I have been thinking that this is a better alternative than going Family. Sure it's at least 1 more year of residency depending on the program, but there is still always the possibility of subspecialization should one want to pursue that route in the future. I personally am not interested in the OB training in a family residency as I wouldn't plan to practice it anyway.

Anyone have any thoughts on this as a better alternative to Family Medicine?

 

[elwademd]

It's funny that you say that because we had an IM interest group meeting a couple weeks ago at my school, and the Med/Ped attending who was speaking said that IM did more procedures.

depends if you mean in hospital procedures, or outpatient procedures.

in residency at least, i (3rd year im resident) do more procedures in the hospital than family medicine residents... but they do more than me in our outpatient clinics- they also have more days of clinic than i do as well.

 

[Blade28]

Incidentally, there's nothing dishonest or "PR" about SDN's FAQs. They were written by members, just like the comments you'll read here.

Yeah...in general, it's not a good idea to immediately belittle the advice and FAQs offered by the mod, and you ESPECIALLY don't want to start bashing his specialty, either!

 

[deleted87716]

It's funny that you say that because we had an IM interest group meeting a couple weeks ago at my school, and the Med/Ped attending who was speaking said that IM did more procedures.

Your exposure to inpatient procedures is going to be more institution/program-dependent than specialty-dependent. At my program, you could do pretty much any bedside procedures that came along. Some of my friends at academic IM programs did practically zero...all lines got referred to surgery, etc. As for outpatient procedures, you'll get more experience with these in a family medicine program.

Speaking of Med/Ped, I have been thinking that this is a better alternative than going Family...Anyone have any thoughts on this as a better alternative to Family Medicine?

As you said, it's an extra year of training, and if you have no intention of specializing, I don't see the attraction. I'm sure people who choose med-peds have their reasons. A common one that I've heard is that it prepares you to care for patients with certain childhood diseases (like CF) into adulthood. For me, spending an extra year in training to not learn OB-gyn didn't make much sense. I didn't really want to keep up with two board exams for the rest of my life, either.

You might learn more about med-peds in the Combined Residencies forum.

 

[soonereng]

For me, spending an extra year in training to not learn OB-gyn didn't make much sense. I didn't really want to keep up with two board exams for the rest of my life, either.

You might learn more about med-peds in the Combined Residencies forum.

Thanks for the link to the combined forum.

One reason that I think Med-Ped could have an advantage is that many parents only want to take their children to a pediatrician rather than a family doc. It's probably more about marketability than treatment in the end.

 

[deleted87716]

One reason that I think Med-Ped could have an advantage is that many parents only want to take their children to a pediatrician rather than a family doc. It's probably more about marketability than treatment in the end.

Interestingly, however, most med-peds docs actually use some variation on "family care" to describe their practices, assuming they're not in an integrated practice with other FPs and internists, which is actually more typical. As for marketing, word of mouth is your best form of advertising. Most patients won't understand the difference between med-peds and FM.

 

[njbmd]

Can someone tell the real difference between these two other than what I know:

1)subspecialties are more readily available to Internal Medicine residents.

2) Internal Medicine is harder to get into.

3) Family Medicine means you can play with kids and dogs professionally. (okay not dogs).

GP or General Practice does not exist anymore. The replacement is Family Medicine which is a specialty that requires three years of residency and successful pass of a specialty board exam at the end of those three years of training. During those three years of residency training, FM residents rotate through OB-GYN and Peds.

Internal Medicine is a primary care specialty that takes three years of training post medical school + passage of a specialty board exam. IM is generally primary care for adults and does not include rotations in OB-GYN and Ped as Family Medicine would.

Subspecialty fellowships exist for IM and FM. Good residency programs in both FM and IM are quite competitive and competitiveness depends on the individual program. Entry into a subspecialty fellowship (FM or IM) requires a strong performance in residency and good board scores on the yearly "in-training" exams.