What is the difference between an internist and a family physician?

DB’s Medical Rants explores the differences between internists and family physicians in 4 postulates.

It seems like with time, as the U.S. health system evolves, internists will morph into hospitalists and family physicians into outpatient doctors. A similar arrangement, with outpatient GPs who almost never go to the hospitals and inpatient doctors, works relatively well for many European countries.

References:
Internists have different skills than family physicians. DB’s Medical Rants.

Further reading:
Retired doc's thoughts and Musings of a Distractible Mind comment on the implications of switching to hospitalist care for inpatients.
Practicing cost-effective medicine. One clinician's top 10 tips. Robert M. ACP Hospitalist, 2007.
Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain

Updated 09/20/2007

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