Future roles and training of internal medicine subspecialists. American Board of Internal Medicine Task Force on Subspecialty Internal Medicine.

Abstract

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.