What is "internal medicine"

n. The medical specialty concerned with the diagnosis, management and nonsurgical treatment of unusual or serious diseases.

n. the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis and (nonsurgical) treatment of diseases of the internal organs (especially in adults) [syn: general medicine]

Internal medicine or general medicine (in Commonwealth nations) is the medical specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. Physicians specializing in internal medicine are called internists, or physicians (without a modifier) in Commonwealth nations. Internists are skilled in the management of patients who have undifferentiated or multi-system disease processes. Internists care for hospitalized and ambulatory patients and may play a major role in teaching and research.

Because internal medicine patients are often seriously ill or require complex investigations, internists do much of their work in hospitals. Internists often have subspecialty interests in diseases affecting particular organs or organ systems.

Internal medicine is also a specialty within clinical pharmacy and veterinary medicine.

Internal Medicine is a peer-reviewed open-access medical journal published monthly by the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine. It was established in 1961 as the Japanese Journal of Medicine and obtained its current title in 1992.

Internal Medicine, titled Zentralblatt innere Medizin or Innere Medizin in German, formerly titled Kongresszentralblatt für die gesamte Innere Medizin und ihre Grenzgebiete: Offizielles Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Innere Medizin, was a German medical journal with a broad focus on internal medicine, published by Springer, as the official publication of the German Society of Internal Medicine. It was founded in 1912 and published until 1991. The last editions had the English and German titles as equivalent parallel titles.