The specialty of family medicine is centered on lasting, caring relationships with patients and their families. Family physicians integrate the biological, clinical and behavioral sciences to provide continuing and comprehensive health care. The scope of family medicine encompasses all ages, sexes, each organ system and every disease entity.
Of the primary care specialties (family medicine, general internal medicine and pediatrics), family physicians provide the most care - managing nearly one-fourth of all primary care visits. Given the scope of family medicine, this comes as no surprise.
Family medicine is a three-dimensional specialty, incorporating (1) knowledge, (2) skill and (3) process. At the center of the process element is the patient-physician relationship with the patient viewed in the context of the family. It is the extent to which this relationship is valued, developed, nurtured and maintained that distinguishes family medicine from all other specialties.
Family physicians integrate the biological, clinical and behavioral sciences to provide continuing and comprehensive health care. Unlike pediatricians, who only provide care for children, and internists, who only provide care for adults, family medicine encompasses all ages, sexes, each organ system and every disease entity. Family physicians also pay special attention to their patients' lives within the context of family and the community. While there are similarities between family medicine and the other primary care specialties, family physicians have an unprecedented opportunity to have an impact on the health of an individual patient over that person's entire lifetime.
Internists are personal physicians who provide long-term, comprehensive care in the office and the hospital, managing both common and complex illnesses in adolescents, adults, and the elderly. Internists are trained in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, infections, and diseases affecting the heart, blood, kidneys, joints, and digestive, respiratory and vascular systems. They are also trained in the essentials of primary care internal medicine which incorporates an understanding of disease prevention, wellness, substance abuse, mental health, and effective treatment of common problems of the eyes, ears, skin, nervous system, and reproductive organs. An internal medicine physician's primary responsibilities include heath maintenance and disease screening, the diagnosis and care of acute and chronic medical conditions, management of patients with multiple, complex medical problems, and serving as consultants to other disciplines such as surgery, obstetrics, and family medicine. An internist's work is characterized by extensive knowledge and skill in diagnosis and treatment.