Should I Choose a Family Medicine or Internal Medicine Provider for My PCP?

Rou­tine screen­ings. Flu symp­toms. A refer­ral to see a spe­cial­ist. These are just a few of the many rea­sons you might make an appoint­ment with your pri­ma­ry care provider (PCP).

Your PCP is a one-stop shop for most non-emer­gency med­ical sit­u­a­tions. They treat com­mon med­ical con­di­tions, help you make healthy lifestyle choic­es, pro­vide pre­ven­ta­tive care, and help direct you to anoth­er health­care provider when necessary. 

When choos­ing a PCP, you have options, includ­ing whether to see a fam­i­ly med­i­cine or inter­nal med­i­cine provider for your care. Here’s an overview of each of these roles and how you can choose which one is best for you. 

What’s the Dif­fer­ence Between a Fam­i­ly Med­i­cine and an Inter­nal Med­i­cine Provider?

Both fam­i­ly med­i­cine and inter­nal med­i­cine providers are great options for your pri­ma­ry care provider — but there are a few dif­fer­ences between the two.

Fam­i­ly med­i­cine physi­cians pro­vide pri­ma­ry care to patients of all ages, from infants to the elder­ly. This means they have the train­ing to treat and care for a wide range of health con­di­tions that you might encounter through­out your entire life. 

Inter­nal med­i­cine physi­cians — also called internists — pro­vide pri­ma­ry care for adult patients, and often spe­cial­ize in ongo­ing care for chron­ic ill­ness­es (like heart dis­ease or dia­betes) and car­ing for patients with more than one dis­ease. They also focus on dis­ease prevention. 

Search­ing for a pri­ma­ry care provider? Make an appoint­ment with a Duly inter­nal med­i­cine provider or fam­i­ly med­i­cine provider today. 

Fam­i­ly Med­i­cine and Inter­nal Med­i­cine Training

While both fam­i­ly med­i­cine and inter­nal med­i­cine providers are equipped to care for adult patients, there are some dif­fer­ences in their training. 

Fam­i­ly Med­i­cine Physicians

Fam­i­ly med­i­cine physi­cians train in pro­vid­ing care for a con­tin­u­um of patients from infant to adult. They focus on acute (severe and sud­den) and chron­ic (ongo­ing) con­di­tions as well as gen­er­al wellness. 

Fam­i­ly med­i­cine providers also train in oth­er depart­ments, such as obstet­rics, gyne­col­o­gy, surgery, geri­atric care, and mus­cu­loskele­tal med­i­cine. They also gain expe­ri­ence in well­ness areas, like behav­ioral health and pop­u­la­tion health. 

Inter­nal Med­i­cine Physicians

Inter­nal med­i­cine physi­cians are typ­i­cal­ly only trained in treat­ing adults (unless they under­go dual train­ing in inter­nal med­i­cine and pedi­atrics). They study gen­er­al med­ical issues as well as sub­spe­cial­ties, like endocrinol­o­gy, rheuma­tol­ogy, and neurology. 

Train­ing for inter­nal med­i­cine also includes expe­ri­ence in oth­er depart­ments, like psy­chi­a­try, der­ma­tol­ogy, sleep med­i­cine, and geri­atrics. This helps them gain a bet­ter under­stand­ing of oth­er fields that they might refer patients to. 

How Do I Know Which Is Right for Me? 

Fam­i­ly med­i­cine and inter­nal med­i­cine physi­cians are both capa­ble of pro­vid­ing excel­lent care, includ­ing help­ing you live a healthy lifestyle, detect­ing health prob­lems ear­ly, and diag­nos­ing and treat­ing ill­ness­es. Still, you’ll need to decide which provider is best for you.

Fam­i­ly med­i­cine providers take a broad approach in terms of health con­di­tions as well as age. This pre­pares them to deal with a wide range of med­ical con­di­tions, mak­ing them help­ful for com­mu­ni­ties where cer­tain spe­cial­ists aren’t an option. 

Because fam­i­ly med­i­cine providers work with all ages, they tend to adapt their approach to meet the needs of their com­mu­ni­ties. They can also treat your whole fam­i­ly to gain a broad­er under­stand­ing of your med­ical his­to­ry. Plus, you may not have to make the tran­si­tion from pedi­atrics to an adult pri­ma­ry care provider.

Inter­nal med­i­cine providers, on the oth­er hand, focus only on adults, mak­ing their train­ing in adult med­ical con­cerns exten­sive. They are skilled at diag­nos­ing dis­eases that impact adults and man­ag­ing com­plex med­ical sit­u­a­tions if you have mul­ti­ple health conditions. 

Because of their train­ing in med­ical sub­spe­cial­ties, inter­nal med­i­cine providers are also well-equipped to work with col­leagues in oth­er spe­cial­ties. This makes them ide­al for patients with com­plex med­ical needs, such as heart con­di­tions or autoim­mune diseases. 

Mak­ing the Best Deci­sion for Your Health Needs

Choos­ing a pri­ma­ry care physi­cian is an impor­tant deci­sion. Ide­al­ly, you’ll stay with this provider long-term so they can gain a deep­er under­stand­ing of your health. This makes it essen­tial to choose the type of provider that aligns best with your needs and values. 

While fam­i­ly med­i­cine and inter­nal med­i­cine providers have slight­ly dif­fer­ent train­ing and approach­es to care, they both put your health front-and-cen­ter. With either choice, you can rest assured that your pri­ma­ry care provider will help you live a long and healthy life.