Although the number of internal medicine residents planning a general internal medicine career is about half of what it was 10 years ago, hospital medicine career plans increased by about 20 percent, according to a research letter published Aug. 28 in JAMA.
The Association of American Medical Colleges recently projected a shortage of between 17,800 and 48,000 primary care physicians by 2032. In light of this, researchers analyzed Internal Medicine In-Training Examination data to quantify this trend among specialties.
Among primary care residents from 2019 to 2021, there was a 7.8 percent decrease in general internal medicine career choices, an 11.7 percent decrease in residents desiring a subspecialty career and a 20.1 percent increase in hospital medicine career choices compared to data pulled between 2009 and 2011.
During the same time, 11.4 percent more Year 3 residents were planning a career in hospital medicine than they were a decade prior.