Future Roles and Training of Internal Medicine Subspecialists

1 April 1996 | Volume 124 Issue 7 | Pages 686-691

While fellowship training programs are being reduced in size to better conform to societal needs, the training of subspecialist basic scientists and clinical investigators must be protected to ensure continued discovery and the scholarly application of knowledge to patient care.Fewer subspecialist clinicians must be appropriately trained to serve as consultants, as principal care providers, and as scholarly leaders and educators in their subspecialties. This article describes the recommendations of the American Board of Internal Medicine for subspecialty training. To encourage physicians to choose careers as investigators, overlapping but different training paths are delineated for subspecialist clinicians and investigators. More didactic coursework is recommended for both paths. To maximize the contribution of fewer subspecialists, it is essential to provide rigorous training that is appropriately relevant and realistically matched with career opportunities.

*The American Board of Internal Medicine Task Force on Subspecialty Internal Medicine includes P.P. Toskes, MD (University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida); J.C. Bennett, MD (University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama); W.M. Bennett, MD (Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oregon); G.D. Braunstein, MD (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California); P.A. Cassileth, MD (University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida); M.D. Cheitlin, MD (San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, California); D.R. Dantzker, MD (Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, New York); M. Feldman, MD (Dallas Veterans Administration Medical Center, Dallas, Texas); H.M. Golomb, MD (University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois); M.R. Green, MD (University of California at San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, California); J.P. Kassirer, MD (The New England Journal of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts); M.A. Kelley, MD (University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania); M.S. Klempner, MD (Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts); R.W. Moskowitz, MD (Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio); M.I. Surks, MD (Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York); S.I. Wasserman, MD (University of California at San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, California); and D.P. Zipes, MD (Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana).