Internist

Whether you learned it from your Grandma, a Teacher, or your favorite television program, you probably know that “beauty’s only skin deep,” that “every dog has its day,” and that “honesty is the best policy.”

If you’re an Internist, however, your favorite idiomatic expression is probably, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” After all, you’re a Physician who specializes in conditions, illnesses, and diseases that are “internal,” or inside the human body. No matter what they look like outside, Internists know that patients have all sorts of issues going on inside them — and you’re committed to preventing, diagnosing, and treating all of them.

Although you might be a specialist — Cardiologists, Gastroenterologists, Oncologists, and Endocrinologists, for instance, are all Internists, although they have a laser focus on specific body systems and conditions — you’re most likely a General Practitioner or Primary Care Physician, which means you’re devoted to the whole-body health and well-being of adult patients.

To that end, you’re the Doctor people see when they have a health-related question, want a medical check-up, or need treatment because they’re sick. When they come to you, your job is to consult with them, examine them, conduct medical tests, offer preventative treatments, prescribe medications, administer in-office therapies, and make referrals to specialists when necessary.

Basically: If health care were a war, you’d be on the front lines, spotting and treating common health problems early, then executing a plan to defeat them, all the while funneling patients back to bigger troops with more artillery when you lack the firepower to treat them.