From family medicine to Internal medicine

[dr.v]

I have heard of residents completing residency in family medicine and making their way into internal medicine residency. What my question is once you have completed fam med residency how many years do you practice as a family physician before applying for a residency in IM? And what do medicine programs look at in a graduate of family med?

[TriageModerator]

Please check for the appropriate forum to post your queries before posting. Moving to Residency Match forum.

[GuitarHero]

I don't think many people complete their entire 3 year FM residency before going on to another 3 year residency in IM. This would be extremely low yield. IM is more competitive than FM to be sure, but it's still one of the less competitive specialties.

Unless you want to do a fellowship (e.g. cardio, GI, pulm, hem/onc etc.) a family medicine doctor can do many of the same things that a general internist does. Internists these days typically work in primary care or as hospitalists. Family medicine doctors can do both (although internists have an advantage when it comes to hospitalist positions). Also according to most surveys that I've read, the compensation difference between a general internist and a family medicine doctor isn't really worth doing another 3 year residency.

If you want IM, I suggest you apply to IM or at least switch out of FM after one year.