What is Internal Medicine?
Internal medicine is the science that includes research and development of medicine for adult diseases focused mainly on curing diseases for adults. The doctors that practice in this field will generally diagnose, prevent and treat ill patients and are known as Internist.
Internists generally specialize themselves on a certain part of the body, for example, for cardiology related issues, an internist will focus on all heart-related diseases that can occur in adults while focusing on other parts as well as one issue in a part of the body could cause another major issue in a different part of the body.
Depending on the part of the body the issue is generated the patient needs to consult with an internist focused for that part, if the issue is also in another part of the body then they’ll need another internist that specializes in that field.
An internist needs to go at least four years of education and then enter a residency that will last for 3 years. While they’ll be in the residency they’ll receive a licence to practice and will be certified by the board in internal medicine. There are Internal Medicine Journal that one can access to know each and every detail of what this field focuses on and how internists deal with them, with detailed reports as well.
Internist & Family Practitioner:
During this residency, they’ll get different tasks where they’ll have to take care of major issues, which will eventually make them able to deal with serious situations once they get the certification. An Internist and family practitioners generally alike in a lot of ways. Both of them are primary care physicians who take of multiple illnesses of their patients.
The main difference between an Internist & family practitioner is that the internist will focus on only adult-related issues meanwhile the family practitioner will focus on all the members of the family over a wide variety of health issues that’ll occur.
Benefits of Having an Internist:
Because of the detailed studies and practice that an internist goes through, they have the ability to treat a specific illness that the patient might be facing. A general internist can treat various diseases but if an internist has a subspecility, they are trained specifically to deal with a particular disease or illness and in most of the cases will come up with the cure quickly, there won’t be a requirement for any further analysis.
They are also good at giving detailed feedback to the patient about the illness as they have specialised themselves on that particular topic for more than 7 years.
Types of diseases Internists Take Care Of:
- Cardiology
- Cardio electrophysiology
- Haematology or Blood-related diseases
- Oncology
- Nephrology or Kidney diseases
- Rheumatology
- Endocrinology
- Sinus Infections
- Allergies
Internists are highly qualified doctors who have a postgraduate degree in their specialities and should never be confused with an intern, who are the doctors pursuing their degree while still at the residency in their first year.
How Can An Internist Certify in Nuclear Medicine As Well?
Nuclear Medicine is a speciality that involves studies related to radioactive substances that cause illness and diseases. A Doctor that has a certificate and licence to practice this will generally record the emissions from inside the body of the patients. A Nuclear Medicine Journal will feature multiple types of research done in this field, review papers and advice and opinions from experts in this field.
Candidates who have finished four years in studies of both during the residency can opt for a licence and certificate in both of the fields. Some boards allow getting certification for both by giving a written exam and if they qualify they can continue the residency and then get certified in both fields.
