How long is a medical internship?

Medical interns are also known as Post Graduate Year 1 or PGY-1 interns. Interns may perform many of the same duties as doctors, including taking patient histories, examining patients, and meeting with family members. They may also conduct medical procedures such as:

• Biopsies

• Catheterizations

• Intubations

• Sutures

While medical interns can perform many of the same duties, they are not licensed doctors. For that reason, they must perform their work alongside a licensed doctor or another qualified medical supervisor. To test an intern's knowledge, a doctor may ask interns to talk to and examine patients and make treatment recommendations.

Interns will go through different phases of training known as rotations. Rotations are done with different specializations such as:

• Internal medicine

• General surgery

• Emergency medicine

• Pediatrics

• Family medicine

• Cardiology

• Ambulatory medicine

After an internship, doctors can become general practitioners and begin practicing medicine, but most choose to start a residency program and become a specialist. Residencies allow for further training in areas such as:

• Pediatrics

• Gynecology

• Surgery

• Oncology

• Endocrinology

• Allergy

• Dermatology

A residency program can range from two to seven years, depending on the specialty.