No matter how simple or complex
Our training is both broad and deep: We are equipped to deal with whatever problem the patient brings - no matter how common or rare, or how simple or complex.
To do this, we continually update our knowledge in many areas, including diseases of the heart and blood vessels, cancer, diabetes, digestive diseases, hormonal disorders, infections, kidney diseases, respiratory disorders, allergies, blood diseases, and arthritis - from adolescence to the elderly; from the office to intensive care.
We care for the whole patient
We also bring to patients an understanding of wellness (disease prevention and the promotion of health), women's health, substance abuse, mental health, as well as effective treatment of common problems of the eyes, ears, skin, nervous system and reproductive organs.
Puzzling, chronic and multiple illnesses
We are specially trained to solve puzzling diagnostic problems. We handle severe chronic illnesses. And situations where several different illnesses may strike at the same time.
For Life
In today's complex world, we aim to take care of our patients for life - in the office or clinic, during hospitalization and intensive care, and in nursing homes. When other medical specialists, such as surgeons or obstetricians, are involved, we coordinate their care for our patients and manage difficult medical problems associated with that care.
In fact, we so often serve as medial consultants to physicians in other specialties that we've earned the nickname, "the doctor's doctor."
Our subspecialties
Some of us choose to focus our practice on one area of internal medicine and take additional training to "subspecialize." Cardiologists, for example, are doctors of internal medicine who subspecialize in diseases of the heart. A look at our list of subspecialties underscores the breadth of expertise under the internal medicine umbrella: cardiology, oncology, gasroenterology, pulmonology (lungs), rheumatology (arthritis), nephrology (kidneys), hematology (blood), endocrinology (diabetes and other glandular disorders), infectious diseases, and allergy and immunology.
For more information about
internists, go to the web site for American College of Physicians/American
Society of Internal Medicine:
www.doctorsforadults.com