Objective: characterize the performance profile of the internal medicine doctor according to the proposed professional competences and establish relationships with the profile of current training in this specialty in Colombia. Study design: joint cross-sectional study, for 11 months, with informed consent and Ethics Committee. Participants: managers, internists, teaching internists, residents. Interventions: thorough interviews, survey and programs analysis. Anonymous survey, according to the qualitative analysis of interviews. Triangulations for validity and reliability by sources (literature, participants, programs), instruments (interview, survey, grid analysis programs) and type of participants. Analysis: Atlas.ti 5.0 qualitative, quantitative Excel 2007.