General Medicine and Hospital Medicine: The Janus of Internal Medicine (Editorial)

Abstract

In this issue of JGIM, Miller and colleagues draw attention to important trends in the evolution of academic general internal medicine.1 By examining the membership of the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM), they provide a snapshot not only of the Society, but also the trajectory of academic internal medicine. While one can belabor methodological concerns such as response rate and generalizability of the results, the overarching portrait of academic general medicine rings true: a growing proportion of SGIM members identify as hospitalists. Compared to non-hospitalists, Miller et al. found that hospitalists were younger, more junior in academic rank, and more often engaged in medical education roles. Additional noteworthy differences included the fact that hospitalists reported greater interest in developing clinical skills and less interest in advocacy than their non-hospitalist peers, and (somewhat surprisingly) they were more focused on research. Finally, hospitalist respondents were less likely to identify SGIM as their “professional home.”