What does an internist do?
An internist is a physician of internal medicine whose primary duty is to diagnose and treat different illnesses and injuries. Their responsibilities revolve around conducting initial assessment and examination, reviewing medical records and histories, providing consultations, prescribing medicines, and coordinating with different health care workers to ensure optimal care and service to patients. Moreover, it is essential to discuss and explain conditions to patients or their families, monitor their condition, provide health care advice, and refer them to any specialists or support services as needed.
Internist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real internist resumes:
- Train and manage new interns/ volunteers assisting with the evidence-based hypertension management program.
- Implement EMR solely in a huge practice.
- Evaluate health education needs of patients and provide necessary training and instruction.
- Provide overall quality prenatal health care, gynecological services, patient triage, refer patients with complications, provide patient education service
- Perform uncomplicated surgical extractions, bone grafting and suturing as needed independently.
- Provide physiotherapy, rehabilitation and chiropractic treatment for various conditions and injuries.
- Provide wellness services as a license chiropractor including physical examinations and evaluations, chiropractic adjustments, nutritional evaluations and relate counseling services
- Perform simple laceration repairs, application of cryotherapy for skin lesions, gynecologic and prostate examinations.
Internist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 30% of Internists are proficient in Patients, Primary Care, and EMR. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Internists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 30%
Verified medical coverage and documented all patients test records.
- Primary Care, 13%
Work as a primary care provider.
- EMR, 7%
Maintain accurate EMR documentation of all services given to patient under strict confidentiality.
- Critical Care, 6%
Solo practice in rural setting, Lots of critical care.
- Private Practice, 6%
Learned business principles related to private practices and effective clinic management techniques.
- Rehabilitation, 5%
Pain management focus including rehabilitation, homeopathic injections, manipulation, lifestyle modification as well as supplementation.
"patients," "primary care," and "emr" are among the most common skills that internists use at work. You can find even more internist responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for an internist to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what internists do because "physicians and surgeons need to be excellent communicators." Additionally, an internist resume shows how internists use communication skills: "learned doctor-patient communication, how to approach diagnosis, assessment and plan"
Compassion. Many internist duties rely on compassion. "patients who are sick or injured may be in extreme pain or distress," so an internist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways internist responsibilities rely on compassion: "provided safe, effective and compassionate patient care under supervision of senior medical resident or faculty. "
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for internists to perform their duties. For an example of how internist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "patients must receive appropriate treatment and medications." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an internist: "elicit detailed case histories and developed appropriate treatment plans for patients suffering from mucosal diseases. ".
Dexterity. For certain internist responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "dexterity." The day-to-day duties of an internist rely on this skill, as "physicians and surgeons may work with very precise and sometimes sharp tools, and mistakes can have serious consequences." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what internists do: "administered screening tests, provided vaccinations and ensured health education through hands-on family planning, lifestyle modification and community-based childcare. "
Leadership skills. A commonly-found skill in internist job descriptions, "leadership skills" is essential to what internists do. Internist responsibilities rely on this skill because "physicians who work in their own practice must manage a staff of other professionals." You can also see how internist duties rely on leadership skills in this resume example: "collaborated with residency program leadership to assist in the preparation for intern applicant interviews and weekly didactic sessions"
Organizational skills. Lastly, "organizational skills" is an important element of what an internist does. Internist responsibilities require this skill because "good recordkeeping and other organizational skills are critical in both medical and business settings." This resume example highlights how internist duties rely on this skill: "prepared government and organizational reports. "
The three companies that hire the most internists are:
- CarolinaEast26 internists jobs
- National Veterinary Associates16 internists jobs
- Novant Health16 internists jobs
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Compare different internists
Internist vs. Physician
Physicians' general responsibility is to check, diagnose, and treat a patient's condition to improve their overall wellness. A physician could be General Practitioners or Specialist Physicians, wherein General Practitioners are physicians who provide regular checkups for patients depending on their needs and refer them to a Specialist Physicians who are more skilled in a particular field of expertise for a thorough diagnosis. Physicians monitor a patient's medical history and ensure follow-up checkups to observe if the condition of a patient is changing over time. A physician may refer a patient to other health professionals for further examination as needed.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an internist are more likely to require skills like "critical care," "epic," "exam rooms," and "inpatient care." On the other hand, a job as a physician requires skills like "surgery," "patient care," "internal medicine," and "urgent care." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Physicians earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $169,042. On the other hand, internists are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $198,321.On average, physicians reach similar levels of education than internists. Physicians are 2.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.6% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Internist vs. Clinic md associate
An Emergency Room Physician provides medical treatment to patients requiring acute and life-saving care. They keep them alive so they can receive the proper treatments.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real internist resumes. While internist responsibilities can utilize skills like "patients," "primary care," "emr," and "critical care," clinic md associates use skills like "surgery," "internal medicine," "pediatrics," and "clinical research."
In general, clinic md associates achieve higher levels of education than internists. They're 5.5% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Internist vs. Emergency room physician
A doctor is a medical expert who diagnoses and treats illnesses and injuries, often specializing in particular areas. Their responsibilities revolve around conducting initial interviews and examinations, studying a patient's medical history and laboratory results, providing consultations and care advice, prescribing medication, and referring patients to specialists when necessary. They must also coordinate and maintain an active communication line with nurses, administrators, and technicians for a smooth workflow. Moreover, a doctor must educate patients about their health conditions, helping them understand their situation better.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an internist is likely to be skilled in "emr," "critical care," "private practice," and "rehabilitation," while a typical emergency room physician is skilled in "emergency medicine," "surgery," "acls," and "patient care."
Emergency room physicians earn the highest salary when working in the health care industry, where they receive an average salary of $106,786. Comparatively, internists have the highest earning potential in the health care industry, with an average salary of $198,321.emergency room physicians typically earn similar educational levels compared to internists. Specifically, they're 1.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 17.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Internist vs. Doctor
Types of internist
Updated January 8, 2025
