While not all family physicians or primary care physicians are internal medicine specialists, there are a number who are. Sometimes known as internists, these professionals have at least three or more years of training focused on the diagnosis and treatment of conditions in adults.
By having an internal medicine specialization, a doctor will have additional experience and training in diagnosing even very complex issues and patients with more than one significant health condition. Often these specialists act as the treatment management coordinator for the patient and are responsible for the overall health care management, treatment, and medical options for the patient.
Specializations in the Specialization
While a doctor with training in internal medicine can be a general internist, there are also different subcategories or subspecializations. These can include allergies and immunology, cardiology, hematology, oncology, rheumatology, gastroenterology, infectious diseases or even sports medicine to name just a few.
These subspecializations require an additional level of training, which can be up to three years, to be able to have the designation. These types of specialists are often called in as consultants for patient care, but they may also have their own caseload of patients as well.
More than Diagnosis
A medical doctor that has a specialization in internal medicine does more than just diagnosis issues in patients. He or she will be very involved in treatment as well as in preventative medicine.
Most internists are very involved in the holistic treatment of patients. This means they consider the whole patient and the relationship between systems of the body when working through complex medical issues. This is critical when a patient may have several health issues and treatment has to be carefully designed to be effective and not counterproductive given all the presenting symptoms and health issues.
Depending on the clinic and the doctors, it is very common for a referral to a specialist in internal medicine to be made if a general physician has concerns about a diagnosis or potential risk of a health concern.
Working as a consultant, or taking over primary care, having an internist as the doctor allows the patient to have the most experienced and expert medical professionals handling their care. Additionally, the specialist will continue to see the patient in the future, providing the best level of ongoing and continual care for any diagnosis related to internal medicine and patient care.
