[Internal medicine: the point of view of the chief resident]

Clinical practice in internal medicine has fundamentely changed over the last decade. Our knowledge has dramatically improved and we are facing new types of patients. Their number is increasing, they are older and suffer from increasingly complex medical conditions. The society has evolved as well therefore transforming our daily practice. This implies important modifications of our role and new challenges. We must also develop new aspects of our practice such as recognizing our errors, quality of care, quality of education, ethics, new strategies for taking care of the patient all this in parallel with continuous education. Our role as (general practitioner) is of utmost importance since it enables us to keep the "big pictures" in a more and more specialized environment.