Recent studies have demonstrated an identity problem for internists. Basically, an internist is a specialist concerned with all aspects of adult (over age 18) medicine, excluding surgery and advanced gynecology. His concerns include such diverse problems as arthritis, hypertension, heart and lung disease, diabetes and thyroid disorders, stress, obesity, as well as just about any other illness, acute or chronic, minor or major, that may befall an adult. He is a diagnostician true, but he must possess sensitive qualities enabling him to deal with the social and psychological aspects of stress and disease.


Per the "American College of Physicians - American Society of Internal Medicine...." Doctors of internal medicine (also called "internists") are doctors that treat adults. Internists are unique in that our focus is on adult medicine. We don't deliver babies, we don't treat children, nor do we do surgery. Internists, just like general practitioner or family practitioner doctors, can be your primary care doctor.

Internists take care of people from their teen years through old age and have undergone special study and training that focuses on adult diseases and the prevention of. At least three of our seven or more years of medical school and postgraduate training are dedicated to learning how to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases primarily affecting adults. We internists care for our patients for life. Usually we see patients in our offices or clinics and sometimes in hospitals and nursing homes.

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."