Internal & General Medicine Doctors

Joshua “Josh” Estep, MD, is an alumnus of the University of San Francisco. He later received his MD from New York’s University of Medicine and Health Sciences. A resident of Newport, Oregon, Dr. Josh Estep currently serves as an internal medicine hospitalist at Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital.

Both internal medicine doctors, or internists, and general medicine doctors, or general practitioners, are considered primary care physicians, since they often serve at the first point of contact for a person seeing medical care. However, a key difference between them is the patients they treat. An internist only treats adults from the age of 18, while a general practitioner can treat patients of all ages. So, the latter can treat an individual from the time they're a child to their old age. They are also known as family medicine doctors for this reason.

Another difference is that a general practitioner doesn't specialize in any field of medicine, however, an internist can specialize in issues that affect major organs. So, they could be a cardiologist, gastroenterologist, rheumatologist, etc. You would visit a general medicine doctor if you're having stomach pains, for example, but if your condition doesn’t improve after they examine you and prescribe medication, you may go to an internist who specializes in gastroenterology.

Lastly, an internal medicine doctor can operate on their patients to treat their condition, but a general practice doctor cannot. In most cases, they’ll diagnose a disease and recommend a treatment plan.