What is internal medicine?
Internal medicine offers a comprehensive approach to treating inpatients and outpatients. Internal medicine specialists guide the patient through successive diagnostic or therapeutic procedures in conjunction with others.
For inpatients, in addition to the medical patients admitted to their department, they collaborate with surgeons to prep the patient before surgery and monitor their postoperative evolution, especially in patients with multiple conditions.
The complexity of working with all medical knowledge and techniques allows internists to deal with patients with infectious conditions, systemic autoimmune diseases, as well as newly emerging and complex diagnoses.
Which patients is it for?
This service is intended for patients who have been diagnosed by other specialities to offer them the necessary care during hospitalisation, as well as newly diagnosed patients who do not require specialised or surgical care.
Internists approach treatment through prevention, diagnosis, as well as rehabilitation and palliation according to the clinical picture of each patient.
Main conditions and diseases
- Sepsis
- Endocarditis
- Skin infections
- Nosocomial infection
- Colagenosis
- Vasculitis
- Sarcoidosis
- Amyloidosis
- Valvulopathies
- Pericardial diseases
- Arrhythmia
- Bronchial asthma
- Pulmonary embolism
- Neuropathy
- Interstitial nephropathies
Main diagnostic resources and technology
Given the multidisciplinary nature of the conditions dealt with in internal medicine, the tools they use to diagnose and monitor patients are the same as the technical and laboratory tests used by other specialities, such as:
- Echocardiography
- Bronchoscopy
- Digestive endoscopy
- Orotracheal intubations
- Lumbar puncture
- Thoracentesis
Main treatments
The treatment regimen prescribed by internal medicine specialists does not involve surgical interventions. Instead, they prescribe pharmacological treatments (antibiotics, antivirals, antiplatelet medications, etc.).
Areas of specialisation
- Infectious Patient and HIV Units
- Tropical Medicine Units
- Hepatopathy and HCV Unit
