Fig. 1

Overview of U.S. physician training pathways after medical school graduation with a focus on those that begin with Internal Medicine residency training. a An extensive list of other specialty residency training paths is outside the scope of this paper. b The most common subspecialties of Internal Medicine in the U.S. are Allergy/Immunology, Cardiology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Geriatrics, Hematology & Oncology, Hospice & Palliative Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Nephrology, Pulmonology & Critical Care Medicine, and Rheumatology. c May practice outpatient general Internal Medicine (commonly called primary care), inpatient general internal medicine (called hospitalist medicine), or a combination of both. d A limited number of clinical subspecialty training options exist after Family Medicine residency training, however most of these physicians practice outpatient Family Medicine (also commonly called primary care) after completing residency. This pathway is included to illustrate that primary care physicians in the U.S. may be internal medicine or family medicine physicians