Internist = General Physician?

[bozz]

Are these terms interchangeable. I'm going to be shadowing an Internist.. or is it General Physician. I'd like to have a general idea of what they do. These terms confuse me and I'd like to have a general idea of the type of work he'll be doing before actually shadowing him.

In terms of the actual work they do, how different is IM from Family Medicine

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[Caesar]

Are these terms interchangeable. I'm going to be shadowing an Internist.. or is it General Physician. I'd like to have a general idea of what they do. These terms confuse me and I'd like to have a general idea of the type of work he'll be doing before actually shadowing him.

In terms of the actual work they do, how different is IM from Family Medicine

I believe IM is older than FM. FM has some different rotations in the residency than IM. Like more Peds, or OB if I recall. Also IM has more fellowships open to it. Generally people who are IM practice general medicine which is very similar to Family Med, but usually with less adolescents. Hope that helps. Ask him which he prefers, he won't mind.

 

[8744]

Internists are specialists. In fact, every doctor nowadays is a specialist. Even Family Medicine claims to be a specialty which is why they have a two year residency (after an intern year).

In the old, old days before the technological and knowledge explosion that has molded modern medicine (say before the early 1960s), most doctors graduated medical school, did an intern year, then went into private practice. Relatively few took additional training in internal medicine and it was at one time a "consult" specialty, doctors who you only brought onto the case if you couldn't figure something out yourself.

The true generalists today are Emergency Medicine Physicians and Family Physicians.

 

[Caesar]

Internists are specialists. In fact, every doctor nowadays is a specialist. Even Family Medicine claims to be a specialty which is why they have a two year residency (after an intern year).

In the old, old days before the technological and knowledge explosion that has molded modern medicine (say before the early 1960s), most doctors graduated medical school, did an intern year, then went into private practice. Relatively few took additional training in internal medicine and it was at one time a "consult" specialty, doctors who you only brought onto the case if you couldn't figure something out yourself.

The true generalists today are Emergency Medicine Physicians and Family Physicians.

much better answer that mine. But I know at my physicians practice, half are FM half are IM.

 

[Character]

i think so