So you want to be an Acute Physician

Acute Internal Medicine (AIM) is a relatively new specialty. In the past most acute medical admissions were managed by Consultants trained in General (Internal) Medicine along with a another specialty such as Respiratory Medicine. As the pressures of the medical take increased and the need for earlier expert input was recognised, certain individuals began to make acute care the focus of their work. Accompanying this was a realisation that the systems of acute care needed to change and Acute Medicine Units (AMU) were developed often with an Acute Physician as the lead. Acute Medicine was given subspecialty status before being recognised as a Specialty in its own right in 2009. It should be stressed that Acute Medicine is not the same as Emergency Medicine, although the two specialties work closely together.