In my locations of interest, FM plus two years of experience as a hospitalist is equivalent to or better than a new IM grad, in hospitalist job listings, even in major cities. Should you plan to get hired as a hospitalist at a major city private hospital, as an FM? No, of course not. Should you reasonably expect to find a hospitalist job in or near a big city at a smaller hospital or a safety net? Sure, maybe not immediately after graduation. Should you be using your electives during residency to buff your inpatient credentials, if that's the work you want? Yup. Should you try to get your first hospitalist gig after graduation by building on relationships you've created during residency, maybe instead of throwing your CV to the wind? Of course, consider that. Is it easier sometimes to get in as a nocturnist? Yes. Should you be ready with central line numbers and intubation numbers and target your search to jobs where the ICU is open and they specifically ask for procedures? If that's what you want, yes, if not, no.
The information you want is out there. Look at the job listings for hospitalists. Look at hospitals. Look at hospitalist consulting firms. Where are those jobs? What experience are they asking for? Are there FM's listed as hospitalists at hospitals in towns you want to live in? All this info can be found without too much effort. I like practicelink for identifying employers, and I like wikipedia for finding hospitals in regions I like, and I like hospital/employer websites for job requirements.
As others have said, there's no shortage of hospitalist jobs. You can easily get set up for locums and figure out your preferences on the job after graduation.
I think in general that hospitals are stunned that they've been able to get people to work as hospitalists. Good lord why would anybody want such anonymous shift work where you're not caring for your "own" patients and you're just an admits&orders monkey? Well, turns out there's a sizeable IM/FM population that DOESN'T care for the outpatient part, doesn't need an 8-5 job, prefers doing 12-14 hour shifts in order to get more days off, doesn't need every single weekend off, etc. In my experience, before med school if you had told me I'd end up an FM hospitalist, I wouldn't have gone to med school at all. Yuck. But now that I've WORKED with hospitalists, IM and FM, been inspired by them, seen what consistent and professional inpatient care looks like, in a challenging environment, I'm 180 degrees from my premed understanding. Turns out my "primary care for the underserved" mission IS intact as a hospitalist.
