Is a family practice MD as good as an MD of Internal Medicine?

Question

Is there really a big difference. I have controlled hbp and am in excellent health otherwise.

Answer 1

IM's are good, but it all depends on the individual Dr....I used to go to an IM and he was graet...solved a mystery that no one else had...incluing neuroligists, etc...but now I go to a DO and he is super...so it jsut depends.

Answer 2

Be careful with your abbreviations. GI suggests a gastroenterologist, and gastroenterology is a subspecialty of IM (intenal medicine). Both are three-year training programs that are typically broken down into month-long blocs of concentration on a specific area. Family practice includes training in obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, and a little in surgery and orthopedics. Internists aren't planning to treat children or pregnant women, so they can spend more of their training on medical subspecialties. With those exceptions, the two training programs have a lot of similarities, so each winds up spending much his training doing exactly the same things.

Answer 3

The main difference is their speciality.

A family practitioner is going to be a 'jack of all trades' type of doctor. Where a doctor of internal medicine is more likely to have studied a specific area that he has lots more information on, but will be lacking information in other areas.

Make sense?

Answer 4

I work as a nurse in a clinic in a Specialty Dept and from my experience Family Practice Physicians treat acute problems, like colds, ear aches, sinus infxns whereas the Internal Med Physicians treat more chronic problems like hypertension, diabetes, reflux disease, etc.

Answer 5

An internist requires more education. I have had both and oddly, I prefer the internest.