What are the roles and functions of IMSANZ?

Since its inception in 1997, IMSANZ has expended considerable effort in defining and publicising the role and attributes of the general physician, and acting as advocate for specialist practitioners of GIM within both government and college circles. The role of the general physician and of GIM in medical specialist care in Australasia is currently undergoing a renaissance as state and federal governments seek out consultant physicians with broad skills who can provide specialist care in collaboration with multidisciplinary teams to populations with complex, chronic, multi-organ system problems.

Events continue to reflect the need for the specialist workforce to maintain adequate numbers of physicians who practice GIM as well as satisfactory levels of competency in GIM skills for all physicians regardless of specialty and particularly to encourage dual training for physicians in general and acute medicine along with another specialty. The drivers for this return to generalism are outlined in the "Restoring the Balance" document available here for download. Also available for download is the presentation given to the NZ Ministry of Health, "Restoring the Balance - The Importance of General Medicine in the NZ Health System"

In addition to this move towards generalism the last few years has seen a resurgence of interest in the interface between emergency and internal medicine with the development of acute medicine as an area of interest in practice for general physicians and with this the development of acute medicine units. These units encourage a multidisciplinary approach to patient management with this and the role of general physicians in the team care of chronic disease, it has been determined by the membership of the Internal Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand to open up its membership to all healthcare professions working in these specialist areas.