Wikipedia Definition: Internal medicine is the branch and specialty of medicine concerning the diagnosis and nonsurgical treatment of diseases in adults, especially of internal organs. Internists are trained to solve puzzling diagnostic problems and handle severe chronic illnesses and situations where several different illnesses may strike at the same time. They also bring to patients an understanding of preventative medicine, men's and women's health, substance abuse, mental health, as well as effective treatment of common problems of the eyes, ears, skin, nervous system and reproductive organs. Most older adults in the United States see an internist as their primary physician.
Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new eight week rotation. I will become an Internist PA. When I first heard of internal medicine docs I thought, "How bizarre... a doctor for only the internal organs." But, essentially they do everything... they see everything that would ever trouble an adult. To be honest I am a little scared to see what tomorrow will hold. Surgery was so straight forward, so clear and concise. If the patient was referred to your clinic it basically meant the primary doc had tried all other measures and all that was left was surgery. Now we will be seeing everything- from depression to hypertension, from kidney failure to cancer.
It will be liberating and wonderful to practice more holistic medicine though. It was hard (ok, impossible) for me to turn patients away when they wanted to talk about their recent asthma attack, or their husbands Stage IV lung cancer when I was busy in surgical clinic. As an internist I say bring it on, lets look at your life as a whole and see what can be improved. Lets talk... lets work on solutions right here, right now. As an internist I will be able to treat the whole person- their mind, their body and their spirit.
“The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease” ~ William Osler
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