Internal Medicine

So I started internal medicine at a new hospital. The hospital has a much different demographic than the city hospital where I was doing surgery. What is internal medicine? Internal medicine is basically adult medicine. An internist is the doctor that takes care of adults for most health issues. The training is a 3 year residency. I would say that most adults see internists. They differ from family practice doctors in that they do not see children and they tend to see sicker patients. Often internists will manage adult patients that are hospitalized. 

This rotation is 100% inpatient. I do not see any patients in clinic. All of my patients have been admitted into the hospital where I am involved in managing their treatment while they are in the hospital. Most of my patients are fairly sick. I will see patients that are end stage renal failure or have serious pneumonia, or other illnesses requiring hospitalization.

I am on this rotation for 2 months. I just finished my first week and I actually really like it. It is interesting trying to figure out all of the patient's health issues. It is like a mystery and it feels great to figure out what is wrong and then treat the patient and get them well enough to go back home. I have had some really interesting cases thus far. I am on call  every 3 days. I alternate between long call and short call. Long call is overnight, so I come in at 6:00 am and will stay through the day and overnight and then leave the next day at about 1:00 pm. It is a 32 - 34 hour shift. Short call starts at 6:00 am and goes until about 8:00 pm the same day so it is a 14 - 16 hour shift. The hours can be long.