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Career Exploration

General Internal Medicine Physicians

Also called: Internal Medicine Physician (IM Physician), Internist, Medical Doctor (MD), Physician

What they do:

Diagnose and provide nonsurgical treatment for a wide range of diseases and injuries of internal organ systems. Provide care mainly for adults and adolescents, and are based primarily in an outpatient care setting.

On the job, you would:
  • Analyze records, reports, test results, or examination information to diagnose medical condition of patient.
  • Treat internal disorders, such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, or problems of the lung, brain, kidney, or gastrointestinal tract.
  • Prescribe or administer medication, therapy, and other specialized medical care to treat or prevent illness, disease, or injury.
On the job, you'll need:

Health

  • medicine and dentistry
  • therapy and counseling

Math and Science

  • biology
  • psychology

Education and Training

  • teaching and course design

Arts and Humanities

  • English language

Basic Skills

  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
  • reading work related information

Problem Solving

  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

People and Technology Systems

  • thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one
  • figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it

Verbal

  • communicate by speaking
  • listen and understand what people say

Ideas and Logic

  • notice when problems happen
  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information

Visual Understanding

  • see hidden patterns
  • quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things

Attention

  • pay attention to something without being distracted

Investigative

People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.

  • Attention to Detail
  • Integrity
  • Dependability
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Concern for Others
  • Achievement/Effort

Medical software

  • eClinicalWorks EHR software
  • Epic Systems

Electronic mail software

  • Email software
  • MicroFocus GroupWise

Internet browser software

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • Web browser software

Video courtesy of CareerOneStop.

Job Outlook

The job outlook for this position is Average.

New job opportunities are likely in the future.

Median Annual Salary: $214,460

Education

Post-doctoral training or doctoral degree is usually needed.