Internist or general practitioner- the difference simply explained

The general practitioner

• The generic term "medicine" is divided into 32 individual areas in Germany. General medicine, under which the general practitioner (or General practitioner, family doctor) is one of these areas.
• The aspect of general medicine has developed out of internal medicine and is to a certain extent still associated with it.
• General practitioners are primarily responsible for, and also specialize in, acutely occurring impairments of body and to alleviate your soul or to remedy it completely. This first aid usually takes place in the general practitioner's practice.
• The supply can also take place on a long-term basis and through home visits directly to you.
• Tests can be carried out or within the care Medication and transfers are issued.
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What is an internist? - An explanation

After six years of medical studies you are a doctor, but then the training for ...

• The general practitioner must be able to foresee what it is about, especially when it comes to the first contact a possible illness and what the further course looks like, so that he can plan a course of action can.
• You are also obliged to visit the general practitioner first, even if you already know that you need to see another specialist. However, you will need a referral from the general practitioner, which will give you your Health insurance will certainly confirm.
• If it is an emergency, you can of course go to the emergency department directly.

An internist on the other hand

• An internist is a specialist doctor who works in the field of internal medicine. However, due to the abundance of specializations, this generic term is usually subdivided into an abundance of smaller areas.
• Internal medicine affects all organ-related areas, which in their complexity are similar to those of operations and in some places also deal with other areas of medicine, e.g. B. in radiology.
• The main difference between an internist and a general practitioner is the level of knowledge. An internist is much more specialized in his field, which enables him to work in the internal wards of a hospital.
• However, an internist can also do further training as a general practitioner. These general practitioner internists are therefore also allowed to perform the initial consultation activities of a normal family doctor, make house calls and z. B. open a general practice.
• However, this can lead to legal or health insurance problems, especially in the area of ​​money reimbursement. If you want to consult an internist as a family doctor, you should first contact your health insurance company about the Changed modalities to find out whether this might be a disadvantage for you arises.

Interesting facts for the future

• The division into internists, general practitioners and general practitioners has been abolished, but the old modalities for the changeover will remain in place for a while.
• The training was cut to the "specialist for general and internal medicine", whereby family doctors consequently will also be internists and, in particular, the legal problems listed above will no longer arise should.
• At the moment, however, this is not yet the case across the board, but is only being developed.