Polydipsia Polydipsia Polydipsia is excessive thirst or excess drinking. The word derives from the Greek () "very thirsty", which is derived from (, "much, many") + (, "thirst"). Polydipsia is a nonspecific symptom in various medical disorders. It also occurs as an abnormal behaviour in some non-human animals, such as in birds. This symptom is characteristically found in diabetics, often as one of the initial symptoms, and in those who fail to take their anti-diabetic medications or whose condition is poorly controlled. It can also be caused by a change in the osmolality of the extracellular fluids of the body, hypokalemia,
Institute on Medicine as a Profession and Permanente Medical Group. It does not accept funding from industry sources. Institute on Medicine as a Profession Founded in 2003, the Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) is a non-profit health care policy think tank housed at Columbia University in New York City. Its primary area of focus is the concept of medical professionalism. Other areas of IMAP’s academic focus include conflicts of interest in the health care industry; the role of physicians in national security interrogations; marketing practices in the drug, alcohol, food and tobacco industries; and health information technology. IMAP also funds a physician advocacy grants