Internal medicine is a large and diverse field that deals with diagnosing, treating, and preventing disorders affecting organs in the body. Primarily it includes diseases of the heart, lungs, kidneys, and other vital organs. It also has specialties such as endocrinology or rheumatology, which treat diseases involving specific organs and other problems. Internists often see patients with common but co-existing diseases at risk for certain complications from their disorders.
The term primary care describes the role of a physician who has responsibility for the health of an individual or group of individuals. It includes providing preventive, routine, and acute care, monitoring disease, injury, and disability, and diagnosing and treating illness. Internists are trained to recognize when to bring in other specialties to provide more expertise.
Internal medicine is based on a model in which each patient receives a thorough foundation in core concepts and clinical skills that can be applied across a spectrum of diseases. The model emphasizes the importance of disease prevention, health promotion, and self-care. It focuses on the patient’s lifestyle and psychosocial factors and examines their physical, social, and emotional states. The foundation leads to advanced training in more specific subspecialties.
Ways in which internal medicine is used
- They are used to describe the practice of medicine that is based on a set of principles, concepts, and skills. They are often also called the core of internal medicine.
- They are used to describe a way of practicing internal medicine. Each patient receives an objective examination and care that focuses on prevention, health promotion, and maintaining good health.
- They describe the specialty of training physicians to provide internal medicine services.
- They describe the field of internal medicine, an area of medical practice in which a physician deals with diagnosing and treating diseases that affect an individual’s organs, systems, and other parts.
- They describe a clinical specialty of internal medicine that focuses on diagnosing and treating diseases affecting the respiratory system, stomach, small and large intestines, chest, and lungs.
- They describe physicians who provide care for patients with joint disorders or conditions who get their training in the basics without undergoing additional advanced training in a subspecialty area.
- The practice of medicine is far greater than what can be learned in medical school. It takes a lot of on-the-job training to master this field. Physicians who can adapt and change with the times will become more advanced, thus creating new practices for the future of medicine.