Either at hospitals and clinics or in newspapers and advertisements, you must have come across a term-’Internal Medicine’. But, what is internal medicine? What does it mean to the everyday patient?  Here we are sharing quick guide explaining all about the internal medicine.

Internal Medicine:

Internal medicine is a branch of medical science that deals with the treatment of adults. It provides knowledge for the diagnosis, cure and care of adults across from health to complex illness. And, the physician who practices internal medicine is termed as Internist.

Subspecialties Of Internal Medicine:

Since patients seeking for internal medicine often require complex diagnosis and cure, it necessitates the need of subspecialties in the field of internal medicine. As per their interest, internists can choose different subspecialization for the higher studies that is 1-4 years of fellowship. And, depending on their choice of subspeciality, they may become a cardiologist, an ophthalmologist, an endocrinologist or some other specialist.

Difference Between Family Doctors And Internist:

By the time you must have got an idea about internal medicine but, you may be thinking internist similar to the family doctors. However, internists and family doctors should not be confused. An internist is one who is specialised in treating adults, while a family doctor has a wide range of patients that is from infants to aged people. While internists are trained with a module focussed on adult medicine and subspecialities and it is common for them to opt for fellowship, it is not the case with family doctors.

Now you must have got a basic idea about internal medicine. So, next time when anyone asks you about what is internal medicine, you can explain.