What is an Internal Medicine doctor?

What is an Internal Medicine doctor? Most probably, when you seek consult at a nearby hospital or clinic, you will see the in the doctor's room, a credential that says Internal Medicine. But what is an Internist? What are the key differences from a general practitioner and with other subspecialists? That is what we will tackle in this article.

To put it simply, as I have mentioned in the in the home page, an Internist provides a comprehensive care for adult patients, ranging from 19 years old up to the elderly. We Internists diagnose, treat and prevent most chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, thyroid problem, digestive problems, kidney diseases, infections, cardiac and lung problems. We look at our patient as a whole, connecting all the organs from one another and identifying possible causes or sources of the illness of a patient. However, for me personally, I advise my patients to seek an internist not because they are falling ill, but because they want to prevent being ill. Ideally, at the age of 20 years old, we should seek an Internist in order for us to identify possible risks of developing diseases and adjust our lifestyle to avoid being ill.

The training of being a medical doctor is very rigorous and tedious. After attaining at pre-med course, you will have to undergo an additional 4 years of medical school to attain of medical degree with an additional 1 year of internship for a person to be eligible to take the Philippine Physician Licensure Examination. After passing the exam, you will be granted the right to practice medicine once you have been inducted as a Medical Doctor. Here in the Philippines, once you have an MD in your name, you have the option to become a General Practitioner, or further hone your skills and knowledge and take up residency training for a specific society like Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Surgery, OB-GYN, ENT and Ophthalmologist. The years of training would depend on which specialization you take, for an Internist, it takes about 3 years, provided you are a good resident-in-training physician. Once you graduate in the residency training, then you will have to take another exam, which is the diplomate examination in order to be inducted in the said society. You can't practice your specialization yet until you have taken your diplomate exam. It will be up to the doctor, if he will further train for sub-specialization in their specific field.

Enough of the reminiscing, let's go back to the topic at hand! :D

Aside from the additional training that we undergo, we differ from other physician based on our approaches to a symptom. An internist would look at the whole body, separate them like a jigsaw puzzle, then once the small pictures are identified, we place it back together to check the whole picture and then dwell with our patients. It is essential for us to see, talk, examine and communicate with the patient in order for us to help them.

Most Internist specialize in treating adult, so if you are an adult, looking for a doctor who would advise you regarding lifestyle changes, diagnosing of illnesses, treating of any symptoms, or just plain prevention of any illness. You may go seek an Internal Medicine doctor near you.