General Internal Medicine (GIM) involves diagnosing and treating a wide spectrum of conditions, ranging from the acute severely ill young person to elderly patients with multiple complex comorbidities.
Considered as a separate speciality, GIM now forms an integral part of group one medical specialty training. All group one specialty trainees now require completion of a GIM curriculum for award of Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT); there are currently over 200 trainees in Wales who are in one of these specialties. The skills obtained from GIM training will not only complement your group one specialty, but also allow you to participate in the management of an increasing complex and demanding medical take.
The medical registrar is often seen as a key decision-maker in the acute setting and training in GIM will help to develop both independence and leadership qualities. The majority of your GIM experience will be gathered from managing patients on your own wards and through on-call periods which are usually spent in an Acute Medicine Unit / Medical Emergency Assessment Unit.
However, given speciality training in Wales covers a wide geographical area, there is good opportunity to experience GIM in settings with different resources e.g. in District General Hospitals (DGHs) without close tertiary support vs Tertiary Centres. Many of your Educational Supervisors (ES) for your group one speciality will be GIM accredited and will provide day-to-day guidance on GIM progression. In the event that your ES is not GIM accredited, GIM in Wales is robustly supported by five GIM Training Programme Directors, who cover different geographical areas and group one specialties and will be able to provide assistance. To find their contact details, visit the ‘further information’ section below.
“Personally, I have enjoyed my medical training in Wales so far. The clinical staff are mostly very approachable and supportive. I have taken several months of sick leave at short notice, and also taken a year out of training for experience. On both occasions I felt completely supported to do what was right for me. Many of my colleagues who have started their training in Wales have chosen to continue working here, which I think says something about the work environment”.
Emma Shiels, Respiratory Medicine/GIM.