Your primary-care physician will maintain an up-to-date, detailed account or your current and past health problems, as well as your family history of medical conditions.

He or she will also perform periodic physical exams to assess your health status. Updating these two things is often called taking a history and physical.

Obtaining Your Medical History

Your internal medicine physician will summarize your complete medical history. This will include:

• Your reason for the visit
• Your previous or current medical issues
• Your previous surgeries
• Your current medications, including prescription and over the counter medications
  • Bring a list or a bag containing all of your medications to your physician visit
• Any medication or food allergies
• Your social history, including:
  • Marital status
  • Occupation
  • Smoking and/or alcohol use
  • Sexual history
• Medical conditions that are know to run in your family, including:
  • Early heart disease
  • Diabetes
  • Colon, breast, or prostate cancers
• Your health maintenance history, including:
  • Vaccination history: dates and types of vaccines that you have received, including vaccines for flu, pneumonia, tetanus, and hepatitis
  • Appropriate cancer screenings such as mammograms, Pap smears, colonoscopies, PSA/prostate exams
  • Your most recent cholesterol values (blood work) and your cholesterol goal
  • Your history of fall(s) in the last year, if your are over age 65
  • Osteoporosis screening for women over age 50 or patients at high risk for osteoporosis
• Your current barriers to change
  • What is preventing you from reaching your maximum health status: time, money, motivation, other?
• A comprehensive review of any physical complaints or symptoms you may be experiencing in any part of your body

The Physical Exam

An internist will perform a complete physical exam during an annual check-up. He or she will perform an organ-specific or symptom-specific physical exam during a routine or acute visit, based on your specific medical concerns.

A complete physical exam will include:

• Vital signs:
  • Blood pressure
  • Pulse rate
  • Height
  • Weight
  • Body mass index (BMI)
  • Temperature if clinically appropriate
• A complete organ-specific physical exam

Organ-specific physical examinations include:

• Skin exam
• HEENT (head, eyes, ears, nose and throat) exam
• Neck exam
• Lung exam
• Heart exam
• Abdominal exam
  
• Genitalia exam
• Rectal exam
• Musculoskeletal exam
• Vascular exam
• Lymph node exam
• Neurological exam

Physicians

Physicians offering this service include:

• Adams, Martha B.
• Blackford, Susan P.
• Coleman, Arnett
• Fleming, Ron D.
• Halbrooks, Ronald F.
• Hart-Brothers, Elaine M.
• Hill-Garrett, Karen L.
• Joy, Scott V.
• Lausier, Evangeline R.
• Lee, Sabina M.
• Leigh-Fleming, Jan A.
• Meredith, Michael
• Paterson, Robert W.
• Peyser, Bruce T.
• Phelps, Anne F.
• Ramsey, Colleen
• Shipley, Michael B.
• Toher, Raymond J.
• Uthe, William F.
• Waite, Kathleen A.

Locations

This service is available at:

• Duke Health Center at Pickett Road
  3024 Pickett Road, Durham, NC 27705
• Duke Health Center at Southpoint
  6301 Herndon Road, Durham, NC 27713
• Duke Primary Care of Galloway Ridge
  3000 Galloway Ridge, Pittsboro, NC 27312
• Durham Medical Center - Internal Medicine
  4220 North Roxboro Road, Durham, NC 27704
• Harps Mill Internal Medicine
  7021 Harps Mill Road, Raleigh, NC 27615
• Metropolitan Durham Medical Group
  1901 Hillandale Road, Suite F, Durham, NC 27705
• Sutton Station Internal Medicine
  5832 Fayetteville Road, Suite 113, Durham, NC 27713
• West Raleigh Internal Medicine
  2304 Wesvill Court, Suite 210, Raleigh, NC 27607