Internal medicine

Internal medicine is the branch of medicine concerned with diseases and conditions that affect the internal organs. It probably includes more specialties than any other field of medicine. In the narrower sense, its branches are haematology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, cardiology, pulmonology and nephrology, as well as less well-known branches such as angiology and nutritional and metabolic disorders.

Oncology, neurology, dermatology, infectious diseases and rheumatology were once also part of internal medicine; they have since become separate branches of medicine, but the long history of medicine remembers them as part of internal medicine.

Faktor Zdravlje Polyclinic is a medical institution that takes a comprehensive approach to health issues, caring for every aspect of your health. Within outpatient specialist and consultative care, our cardiologists, haematologists, endocrinologists and rheumatologists will provide you with top-quality medicine. Internal medicine, also known as general internal medicine, focuses on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of internal diseases. Doctors of internal medicine are called internists and have specialised skills in treating patients with undifferentiated or multisystem diseases. Internists are qualified doctors who have completed postgraduate training in internal medicine.

Internists often have subspecialty interests in diseases affecting particular organs or organ systems. Specialist internists are trained to treat complex or multisystem diseases and conditions that often present in an undifferentiated way and do not fit within the scope of a single-organ specialty, such as shortness of breath, fatigue, weight loss, chest pain, confusion or changes in consciousness. Internal medicine cares for patients with everything from acute illnesses affecting several organ systems at once to multiple chronic diseases.

Because treating diseases that are not confined to one organ is complex, the branches of internal medicine overlap to some extent with each other and with other branches of medicine. Internists also undergo substantial training in various recognised subspecialties. To give you a clearer picture of internal medicine, here are some of the subspecialties it covers in Croatia and in other developed countries.

• Allergology and immunology, which deal with the diagnosis and treatment of allergies, asthma and immune system disorders.
• Cardiology, which deals with disorders of the heart and blood vessels.
• Intensive care medicine deals with life-threatening conditions that require intensive monitoring and treatment.
• Endocrinology, which deals with the endocrine glands, diabetes and other metabolic diseases.
• Gastroenterology, which deals with diseases of the digestive organs
• Geriatric medicine
• Haematology, which deals with the blood, the blood-forming organs and their disorders.
• Medical oncology, which deals with the treatment of cancer with chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy.
• Nephrology, which deals with the study of kidney function and kidney diseases
• Pulmonology, which deals with diseases of the lungs and respiratory tract.
• Rheumatology, devoted to the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatic diseases
• Sports medicine
• Hepatology, which deals with liver diseases

This is only an overview; always consult your doctor, who will guide your treatment.
Overlaps between the fields and branches of medicine are not only present but necessary, so that patients can be helped more easily. Specialisation gives doctors a deeper understanding of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up, but it is the integration of medicine that makes it the crown of human knowledge and humanity. A comprehensive approach to medicine, with a commitment to integrating knowledge, is the goal of Faktor Zdravlje Polyclinic.