"Medicine" as a specialty

Internal Medicine is the medical specialty deals with the diagnosis, management and non-surgical treatment of serious illness or unusual, either an organ or body system as a whole. According to some sources, the emphasis on internal structures is implicit. In North America, specialists in internal medicine are commonly called "internists. Elsewhere, especially in Commonwealth nations, such specialists are often called clinicians. These terms, internist or doctor (in the strict sense, common outside North America), professionals generally do not include the obstetrics and gynecology, pathology, psychiatry, and especially in surgery and its subspecialties.

Because their patients are often seriously ill or require complex investigations, internists do much of their work in hospitals. Previously, many do not subespecialitzar internists, general practitioners to see any complex surgical problem, such practice has become much less common. In modern urban practice, most internists are subespecialistes, ie, generally limit their medical practice to problems of a body system or to a particular area of medical knowledge. For example, gastroenteròlegs and nephrologists will specialize, respectively, in diseases of the intestines and kidneys.

The Commonwealth and other countries, paediatricians and specialist geriatricians are also described as a medical specialist (or internists) who subespecialitzar according to patient age rather than by body system. Elsewhere, especially in North America, is often a general pediatric primary care.

There are many subspecialties (or sub-disciplines), internal medicine: 

Cardiology 

Critical Care Medicine 

Dermatology 

Emergency medicine 

Endocrinology 

Gastroenterology 

Geriatrics 

Hematology 

Hepatology 

Infectious diseases 

Nephrology 

Neurology 

Oncology 

Pediatrics 

Pulmonology 

Rheumatology 

Sleep Medicine 

The training in internal medicine (as opposed to surgical training) varies considerably worldwide: see articles on education and medical doctor for more details. In North America, it requires at least three years of residency after medical school, which may be followed by a scholarship from one to three years in the above sub-specialties. In general, resident work hours in medicine are less than those of surgery, with an average of 60 hours per week in the U.S..