Background to GIM

Until the 1980s, departments of General Internal Medicine (GIM) were commonplace in UK hospitals. Over time, physicians began to focus on the delivery of specialist care and General Practitioners (GPs) have been left to try and coordinate the care for an individual patient across multiple specialty teams. This is now becoming increasingly challenging as medical care develops.

Trusts are now recognising a need for physicians that can deliver high quality general care for patients with multiple, unrelated, complex conditions, without the need to initiate multiple referrals to different specialist teams. Delivering good GIM care will become an increasingly challenging and rewarding part of physician practice.

Read BMJ Article (published 13 February 2012) "Renaissance of hospital generalists"

A View from America: In the USA, the majority of inpatient medicine is managed by “Hospitalists”. These are General Medicine “Attendings” (Consultants) who take care of medical patients from admission to discharge. They provide the daily care of the patient, coordinate Specialist input, and facilitate the multidisciplinary team. This model has increased in popularity and is the fastest growing speciality in the US. Although this model does not fit completely with the UK system, it can give a glimpse of what hospital medicine could look like in the future. This model embraces the role of the Generalist in providing patient centred, holistic care, to ensure that complex medical patients have one primary consultant supervising their care whilst in the hospital. As the General Internal Medicine service expands in the UK, it is likely there will be similarities that we can learn from, to strengthen and improve care for hospitalised patients in the UK.