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EMR >> EMR Specialty
Internal Medicine
Electronic Medical Records
Internal Medicine
Doctors of
internal medicine ("internists") focus on adult
medicine and have had special study and training focusing on
the prevention and treatment of adult diseases. At least
three of their seven or more years of medical school and
postgraduate training are dedicated to learning how to
prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases that affect adults.
Internists are sometimes referred to as the "doctor's
doctor," because they are often called upon to act as
consultants to other physicians to help solve puzzling
diagnostic problems. While the name "internal medicine" may
lead one to believe that internists only treat "internal"
problems, this is not the case. Doctors of internal medicine
treat the whole person, not just internal organs.
Doctors of internal medicine may be referred to by several
terms, including "internists," "general internists" and
"doctors of internal medicine." They are not to be confused
with "interns," who are doctors in their first year of
residency training. Although internists may act as primary
care physicians, they are not "family physicians," "family
practitioners," or "general practitioners," whose training
is not solely concentrated on adults and may include
surgery, obstetrics and pediatrics.
Caring for the whole patient
Internists are specially trained to solve puzzling
diagnostic problems and can handle severe chronic illnesses
and situations where several different illnesses may strike
at the same time. They also bring to patients an
understanding of wellness (disease prevention and the
promotion of health), 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.
Where does the term "internal medicine" come from?
The term "Internal Medicine" comes from the German term
Innere Medizin, a discipline popularized in Germany in the
late 1800s to describe physicians who combined the science
of the laboratory with the care of patients. Many early 20th
century American doctors studied medicine in Germany and
brought this medical field to the United States. Thus, the
name "internal medicine" was adopted.
The main tools of the doctor are the medical history and the
physical examination, but this holds particularly true for
internal medicine. Subtle descriptions of disease (e.g.
cyclic shallow and deep breathing, as in Kussmaul's
respiration) or physical signs (e.g. clubbing in many
internal diseases) are important tools in guiding the
diagnostic process. In the medical history, the "Review of
Systems" serves to pick up symptoms of disease that a
patient might not normally have mentioned, and the physical
examination typically follows a structured fashion.
At this stage, a doctor is generally able to generate a
differential diagnosis, or a list of possible diagnoses that
can explain the constellation of signs and symptoms. Occam's
razor dictates that, when possible, all symptoms should be
presumed to be manifestations of the same disease process,
but often multiple problems are identified.
Source: Wikipedia contributors (2005). Internal medicine.
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12:06, December
26, 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Internal_medicine&oldid=32161474.
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