Internal Medicine, also known as General Medicine or General and Acute Medicine, is concerned with providing comprehensive and integrated health care to adult patients suffering from a variety of complex, chronic and multisystem disorders. It combines the core biomedical sciences: bacteriology, pathology, and physiology, with evidence-based medical practice and a holistic and psychosocial approach to patient care. This approach requires multidimensional assessment and diagnosis, multidisciplinary expertise, broad clinical skills and knowledge of a range of therapeutic treatment options. Internal Medicine often deals with undifferentiated presentations which affect more than one organ and involve co-morbidities and may require acute clinical care alongside long term care in prevention and rehabilitation. Internal Medicine is practiced across acute hospital and ambulatory settings, and is particularly important in rural and remote areas, where access to subspecialists may be limited.
Many medical disciplines are considered subspecialty areas of Internal Medicine, including Haematology, Oncology, Cardiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Allery and Immunology, Rheumatology, Nephrology, Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Neurology, Nuclear Medicine, Clinical Genetics, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and Geriatric Medicine. Please refer to these specialty areas for more information.
Physicians undertake core basic training in Internal Medicine (3-years/RACP), before embarking on advanced training in Acute and General Medicine or another subspecialty area.