internal medicine

A:Nope! Some internists do, some don't. Internal medicine is a specialty itself.

A:There's Pathology, the medical school course, and Pathology, the medical specialty. All doctors study pathology in medical school. Some doctors pursue a career in pathology after medical school. We all use our study of pathology (what we learned in med school) in treating patients, but pathologists have the specific task of examining tissue specimens, performing autopsies and managing labs and blood banks. They assist internists (and others) in diagnosing disease. Hope that helps.

A:Internal medicine docs undergo 3 years of training in all aspects of adult internal medicine (pulmonology and critical care, nephrology, cardiology, endocrinology, rheumatology, infectious diseases, gastroenterology, and hematology/oncology). That is all they do during residency training, which means they are better trained in these areas. Family practice docs during their training also learn internal medicine, but not as long or to the extent that internal medicine docs do. However, they also learn some pediatrics, Ob/Gyn, and minor surgical procedures since they also spend some time training in Ob/Gyn and surgery. In my opinion, I consider a family practice doc to be a "jack of all trades, but master of none." They will see both adults and pediatrics patients. There are some Family Practice doctors that also deliver babies, but with the rise in malpractice insurance premiums most don't since they don't have the volume that Ob/Gyn doctors do. If you want to go to a doctor who can do a little bit of everything and need basic check-ups, then a family doc may be the choice for you. However, if you have mainly adult internal medicine issues, you are better off going to an internist since their training is more extensive in this field. However, if you live in a rural area where the number of docs is limited, if might be easier to see a family practice doc who can addresss all of your needs. With all being said, there is also a wide range of knowledge and performance skills among doctors. If you have any friends, I would ask who they see and why they like seeing that particular doctor. Personally, I would see an internist, but I am a little biased since I did my training in internal medicine. If you need a baby delivered, I would go to an Ob/Gyn and if you need a minor surgical procedure, I would go to a surgeon if possible.

A:the 3-yr residency consists of rotations in general medicine, specialties like cardio, pulmonary, renal, etc. you will do several rotations in critical care units, as well as outpatient clinics. most programs have a continuity clinic for residents - you start seeing patients as a 1st year and continue to be their primary doc throughout your residency. teaches you how to manage a patient over the long term and build relationships! consider anesthesiology - it's da bomb!

A:Marie is right. Internists have it bad. Insurance companies tell them how to practice and what medications they can and cannot prescribe for a given patient (regardless of what is best medically). The legal climate dictates that they order tests and refer patients unnecessarily, and spend a disproportionate amount of their income on malpractice premiums. In anesthesia, we do a lot. The bottom line is, we keep people alive while surgeons cut them up. General anesthesia without resuscitation = lethal injection. We take over some of the body's natural processes, like breathing (which is kind of important), and monitor and influence cardiac function and fluid balance, in addition to what we do with consciousness and pain management. We DO numb people with needles (4 spinals, 3 femoral nerve blocks and an interscalene block for me yesterday!), but it's not just doing the procedures that's important. It's knowing who needs what and why, and that's pretty complex. We have to know a little bit about the surgical side of things, and a lot about the medical side of things, because many of our patients have concomitant diseases, and we have to know what the impact of the surgical intervention is going to be. Every anesthetic has to be tailored to the individual patient and procedure. The anesthetic that is perfect for one patient might kill another one. We have to be able to deal with emergencies (like surgeons putting a hole in the pulmonary artery by mistake, or a woman in labor with fetal distress, or people not breathing). We always have a "Plan B" (and C and D...) in our back pocket because patients and surgeons don't always act like we expect them to. We get paid more because we take more risks. Every one of our patients can die right in front of us because of what we do. Internists have a lower level of acuity in their practices. I'm not putting down internists - they work hard and deserve a LOT better than they are currently getting. There is a movement toward dumping insurance companies and going fee-for-service only, which leads to much better medical care. (That's what I'm going to look for when I need a doctor)