I received this classic question –

As a family physician in training, I think I’ve been segregated from general interists enough now, that I’m not really sure what it is that they do. 2 years ago, when I chose my specialty, my big reason was “I can’t imagine surviving a day of clinic without seeing any kids. But a day full of well-child checks would drive me insane.”

From the link, he mentions the questions about abnormal uterine bleeding, and corneal abrasions. Taking out the gyn stuff would be obvious, but I can’t imagine doing primary care without a Woods’ Lamp.

I’m not a layperson, but I had assumed that what general internists do was mostly the same as FP’s minus the peds and women’s health. How would you define general internal medicine?

I view general internal medicine as the specialty of complex care of adults. Our patients span inpatient, outpatient and nursing home. While we can do some primary care, we tend to attract patients who have multiple diseases. Our skills are diagnosis and juggling multiple diseases.

I believe that general internal medicine really does differ from family medicine because of the style of training. Spending all of our time considering adults, we have a deeper knowledge of complex disease. We have much more inpatient training – hence the attractiveness to many graduates of hospital medicine.

I personally reject the primary care label to describe general internal medicine, although I have colleagues who still cling to that concept. I choose internal medicine because I enjoy the complexity and the diagnostic challenges. Primary care is great, but not for my personality.

I hope this answer makes sense. If not, please challenge me. If other general internists have further thoughts, please expound in the comments section.