Department of Family Medicine, Internal Diseases and Metabolic Bone Diseases is one of the clinics at the Medical Center of Postgraduate Education (CMKP) which is providing education courses in internal medicine for specializing doctor whose goal is to practice family medicine. Five years ago, specialists working in this Department began to organize continuous education programs in the field of internal diseases for family physicians and other physicians who work in primary outpatient clinics.

Together with the continuous education programs, we prepare special issues of Postępy Nauk Medycznych (a journal under the patronage of CMKP). Those issues are distributed among the participants of our courses as training materials and are also delivered to doctors of other specializations who are interested in internal medicine. The special issues have been very well received by family physicians and other readers of Postępy Nauk Medycznych. They have become an important element of the training process of doctors in a variety of specializations.

In the current volume of the journal, we present articles prepared by colleagues to celebrate 40-year anniversary of Medical Center of Postgraduate Education. We have focused on some internal diseases diagnostic and therapeutic differences in elderly people, which are most frequently experienced in primary health care. While preparing this volume, we bore in mind that among primary health care doctors are professionals of different specializations and of varied expertise.

In my opinion, all of the topics covered in this volume are presented in an understandable fashion, especially when it comes to the practicalities of every day work. It is my hope that you will make use of this volume and that the information presented in the articles will aid you in your daily practice.