Family Practice Vs Internal Medicine: A Breakdown of Both Practices
What’s the difference between family practice vs internal medicine practice? Well, for simplification purposes the difference is who the doctor treats. An internal medicine practitioner strictly treats adults, while a family practice doctor cares for patients of all ages.Family Practice Physician
A family practice physician addresses a large breadth of topics including but not limited to pediatrics, adult medicine, maternity care, gynecology, skin care of the surgical patient, emergency care, sports medicine, mental health, diagnostic imaging, and nuclear medicine. Basically the a family practice physician encompasses all ages, both sexes, and alignments of all manifestation. A great benefit for seeing a family practice physician is the comprehensive and continuing care that they tend to provide.Internal Medicine Physician
Internal medicine physicians are great as well. They focus specifically on adult health and some even see older adolescents. However, they do not treat pediatric patients or neonates. Like family practice physicians, internal medicine doctors are exposed to a wide variety of medicinal practices. But, a trend is showing that many internists are focusing sub-specializing in a very specific field, allowing them to be more knowledgeable in their chosen area of specialty. Some of these fields can include:- Infectious disease
- Cardiology
- Sleep medicine
- Gastroenterology
- Allergy and immunology
- Geriatrics
- Psychiatry
- Dermatology
- Ophthalmology
- Office Gynecology
- Palliative medicine
- Rehabilitation medicine
- Oncology
- and sports medicine, just to name a few.
Benjamin Andrews says
I found it interesting that you state that it’s important to take your younger kids to a family practice. My brother is moving to a new area and wants to find a good doctor to help take care of his kids’ health. I will send him this information so he can make sure to find a physician practice in his new town.