Kelley R. Shackelford, MD - Internal Medicine

Kelley R. Shackelford, MD, is an internal medicine physician with Orlando Health Physician Associates. With her personalized approach, Dr. Shackelford provides preventative and wellness care to her patients and is specially trained to diagnose and treat common illnesses and complex diseases.

About Internal Medicine

As an internal medicine physician and partner on each patient’s health journey, Dr. Shackelford views comprehensive internal medicine as an opportunity to help patients achieve their highest possible level of health. Patients benefit from preventative care, wellness checks, and education and counseling about positive lifestyle changes and choices.

Internal medicine physicians, known as internists, also diagnose and treat diseases involving the body’s organ systems. They are highly trained to manage seriously ill patients suffering from advanced illness and/or diseases of more than one system, solve difficult diagnostic problems, and navigate multiple severe chronic illnesses and other health situations occurring at the same time.

Dr. Shackelford is prepared to handle whatever a patient’s situation. For patients with chronic or multiple medically-complex diseases, she involves them in their care as they move from diagnosis to treatment and beyond. As needed, she coordinates comprehensive care with other physicians, healthcare professionals and hospital services.

She believes in listening to her patients and building a long-term relationship with them. Dr. Shackelford is an advocate for their needs and helps them to understand their diagnosis and, if necessary, any potential choices confronting them. Her goal is to enable patients to make well-informed decisions and proactive, healthy lifestyle changes to attain wellness and the best possible quality of life.

Providing Patient-Centered Care

With her relationship-based approach and dedication to patient-centered care, Dr. Shackelford encourages wellness. The implementation of better habits like increased exercise and the elimination of others such as excessive alcohol use often help patients maintain their health and avoid or delay chronic disease. She works closely with patients to develop a manageable plan to reach their goals for a healthier lifestyle.

For those who are ill, she actively involves them as they progress from diagnosis through treatment. For others with single or multiple chronic or acute conditions, she provides the attentive, coordinated care they require to address each condition independently or in combination. She helps them monitor their health and arranges access to the most recent treatments and therapies. A few of these conditions include obesity, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and diabetes.

Healthcare for Adults

Internists focus on healthcare for adults to prevent, diagnose and treat the common and complex diseases and conditions many adults experience during their lifetime. After their residency, some internists choose to pursue a sub-specialty like oncology or cardiology. This common ground with their general internal medicine peers creates a collaborative relationship beneficial to patients.

There is often confusion about what an internist does versus what a family medicine physician does. Primarily, it is who they treat. While internists treat only adults, family practitioners typically care for the entire family from birth through the senior years.

Some of the benefits of seeing an internist include:

• Expertise in conditions affecting any of the body's systems
• Precise diagnoses of and prompt treatment for a broad range of symptoms and diseases
• Guidance, counseling and preventive interventions for improved health
• Comprehensive care
• Care for chronic diseases, hormonal imbalances, and mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety
• Palliative care

Preventative Healthcare

Promoting ongoing health and wellness is important to Dr. Shackelford. Preventative healthcare often helps patients avoid chronic disease. After routine screenings and review of family medical history, lifestyle and habits, she works closely with patients to track and reach their goals for improved health. Many common conditions such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol and some chronic diseases are avoidable or minimized by adopting good health habits and eliminating those which are unhealthy.

• A few of the services she offers include:
• Comprehensive adult care
• Diagnosing health problems
• General medical care
• Immunizations
• Preventative health screenings and counseling
• Scheduling, reviewing and interpreting diagnostic tests
• Treatment of common, chronic and acute illnesses
• Treatment of injuries

For those who are ill, Dr. Shackelford provides health education and creates a treatment plan to address the “big picture�? and their quality of life, not just symptoms. It is essential patients understand their condition in order to manage it effectively.

Comprehensive Chronic Disease Management

Some patients have ongoing medical needs and require comprehensive chronic disease management for either a single chronic condition such as osteoporosis or multiple conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and more. She provides these patients the attentive, coordinated care they require to address each condition independently or in combination to live the best possible quality of life.

Additionally, Dr. Shackelford is at the ready to provide acute care to patients who experience short-term, severe illness or injury. She may be the patient’s first point of contact in time-sensitive situations and will quickly assess and coordinate appropriate medical treatment for outpatient or emergency care.

A few of the chronic conditions Dr. Shackelford treats and manages (sometimes in conjunction with other specialists) include:

• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Cancer
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Congestive heart failure
• Crohn’s disease
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD or acid reflux)
• Hypothyroidism
• Hyperthyroidism
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Migraine headaches
• Osteoarthritis / joint pain
• Ulcerative colitis

Dr. Shackelford’s Training

After receiving her undergraduate degree from the University of Florida, graduating cum laude, she earned her medical degree from the Florida State University College of Medicine in Tallahassee. She then completed her residency in internal medicine at Orlando Health.

About Dr. Shackelford

Dr. Shackelford is published in peer-reviewed journals and has presented her work statewide. Throughout her education and career she has received many awards and honors, including the Primary Care Physician Award from the Orlando Health Internal Medicine Residency Program.

She is fluent in both English and Spanish.