Internal Medicine

Health struggles can cause difficult, trying times. A great doctor can boost your outlook by diagnosing your problems and recommending treatment. A Doctor of Internal Medicine, or Internist, specializes in working with adult patients to monitor health and identify illnesses.

What is Internal Medicine?

Simply put, internal medicine is concerned with diagnosing, preventing, and treating illness and disease in adults. Internists differ from family physicians in that they focus solely on adult patients. Many Doctors of Internal Medicine maintain a general focus, looking at a patient's full body and systems to prevent, diagnose and treat illness. Some Internists, however, choose a specialty, making them knowledgeable on a given subsystem or topic.

Specialties of internal medicine include:

Cardiology
Immunology
Adolescent medicine
Critical care
Endocrinology
Gastroenterology
Oncology
Geriatric medicine
Hospital medicine
Sleep medicine
Infectious disease
Rheumatology
Sports medicine
Sports medicine
Nephrology
Hematology
Pulmonology

Why Choose Internal Medicine?

A Doctor of Internal Medicine is the ideal choice for most people when it comes to selecting a physician. Whether you are a model of perfect health or fighting disease, a general Internist can diagnose, prevent and treat illnesses. From the smallest pains to difficult diseases, Internists specialize in providing the best possible care for adults. Your family physician may even call on an internal medicine doctor to help with a particularly tricky diagnosis. A Doctor of Internal Medicine can also act as a gateway to more specialized doctors. If you are suffering from heart problem, for example, a general Internist can refer you to a cardiologist.