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Followup To
Question -
Hello,
I am going to be a junior in high school in Georgia and I was considering a career in medicine. I thought about family medicine and internal medicine. Do internists deal with emergencies? Have you ever regretted making your career choice with all of the stress on you and your family? How long did you do to school including residency?
Any answers would be most appreciated,
Thank you,
Kacey Garrett
Answer -
Lots of questions there....
Primary care is very rewarding, but doesn't pay very well... salaries have gone down 33% over last 5 years, because there has been no increase in insurance payments like medicare, but other costs have gone up, like staff salaries, supplies and malpractice ins. I am FP trained and deal with insurance due to my emergency room training. Some primary care docs do more than others as far as emergency training. I have never regretted my decision but it does take a lot away from a "normal life." I spend a lot of time from home, but am rewarded with a lot from patients. Schooling... 4 years college, 4 years med school, at least 3 years residency. There was an interesting article on national public radio last friday 6/23/06 you can go to NPR.org and you might find it about the salaries of primary care docs... that is the bad part, that we aren't compensated like the surgical specialties... if someone goes into FP or IM (internal med) with the hope of getting rich ($$$) then don't do it... if you want to help people on a primary care level, then it is fulfilling...... I would make that statement for all specialties... don't do it for the $$$..... do it for the satisfaction and the $$$$ will follow. Good luck making a decision
I wanted to thank you for my response. It truly has helped me in my search for answers for my career. But, I was wondering if you could give me a more detailed decription of the work of internal medicine. Thank you,
Kacey
Answerthat is a long answer, but IM is taking care of adults, in and out of hospital, more intense training for in the hospital and intensive care work, and also this is the precursor training program before a jump to a subspecialty like cardiology, gastroenterology, rhematology, neurology and others. FP is more outpatient medicine based for the whole family, kids, women's health care, sometimes OB
