Physician-internist vs general practitioner

The differences between physician-internists and general practitioners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a physician-internist and a general practitioner. Additionally, a physician-internist has an average salary of $204,979, which is higher than the $172,831 average annual salary of a general practitioner.

The top three skills for a physician-internist include urgent care, patient care and private practice. The most important skills for a general practitioner are patients, diagnosis, and internal medicine.

Physician-internist vs general practitioner overview

	Physician-Internist	General Practitioner
Yearly salary	$204,979	$172,831
Hourly rate	$98.55	$83.09
Growth rate	7%	7%
Number of jobs	38,382	64,698
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Doctoral Degree, 35%	Doctoral Degree, 50%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	4	4

Physician-internist vs general practitioner salary

Physician-internists and general practitioners have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Physician-Internist	General Practitioner
Average salary	$204,979	$172,831
Salary range	Between $103,000 And $407,000	Between $85,000 And $347,000
Highest paying City	Sumter, SC	Oklahoma City, OK
Highest paying state	North Dakota	Mississippi
Best paying company	Memorial Hospital of Texas County	Altru Health System
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between physician-internist and general practitioner education

There are a few differences between a physician-internist and a general practitioner in terms of educational background:

	Physician-Internist	General Practitioner
Most common degree	Doctoral Degree, 35%	Doctoral Degree, 50%
Most common major	Medicine	Medicine
Most common college	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor	Duke University

Physician-internist vs general practitioner demographics

Here are the differences between physician-internists' and general practitioners' demographics:

	Physician-Internist	General Practitioner
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 68.4% Female, 31.6%	Male, 60.9% Female, 39.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 6.5% Asian, 20.4% White, 64.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% Asian, 19.1% White, 61.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	13%	13%

Differences between physician-internist and general practitioner duties and responsibilities

Physician-internist example responsibilities.

Manage complicated and often difficult to control chronic medical conditions in patients with limit resources.
Provide overall quality prenatal health care, gynecological services, patient triage, refer patients with complications, provide patient education service
Collect and dispatch blood samples according to national malaria eradication and sputum samples for national tuberculosis control program.

General practitioner example responsibilities.

Shadow and note specific medical cases as well as participated in patient diagnosis and treatment plan discussions
Evaluate a variety of medical conditions and afflictions, including making comprehensive diagnosis and specifying treatment plans.
Serve as initial contact to hospital patients; conduct thorough patient assessments and coordinate referrals to appropriate physicians base on findings
Assist in major elective and emergency surgeries such as appendectomies, exploratory laparotomy, thyroid surgery, hysterectomy and cesarean operations.
Collect and dispatch blood samples according to national malaria eradication and sputum samples for national tuberculosis control program.

Physician-internist vs general practitioner skills

Common physician-internist skills

Urgent Care, 57%
Patient Care, 19%
Private Practice, 9%
Medical Care, 5%
Diabetes, 4%
EKG, 2%

Common general practitioner skills

Patients, 32%
Diagnosis, 7%
Internal Medicine, 6%
Outpatient Clinic, 5%
Emergency Room, 5%
Oral Surgery, 4%

Physician-Internist vs. similar jobs

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Healthcare Practitioner and Technical Industry
Physician-Internist
Physician-Internist vs General Practitioner

Updated January 8, 2025

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