[Internal medicine at the crossroads].

General internal medicine is falling into subspecialities as the scope presented by individual specialities is no longer manageable. With respect to the patient, however, particularly concerning indications for medication and surgical treatment of polymorbid patients, as well as in solving problems of the aged, general internal medicine is a necessary and expedient branch. The training of specialists in this branch requires the presentation of classified information aimed at diagnosis and therapy. To fulfill the tasks expected of a specialist in internal medicine he has to build up a bank of diagnostic and therapeutic data of high quality.