calling internal doctors!

[Toooldforms]

what exactly does an internist do? I know they work with doctors to figure things out, but do they do research to find cures, or further medical advancements? Or is that solely ph.d work?

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[PTPoeny]

what exactly does an internist do? I know they work with doctors to figure things out, but do they do research to find cures, or further medical advancements? Or is that solely ph.d work?

...internists are doctors, they did internal medicine residency and from there they can either be outpatient primary care doctors, hospitalists (doctors that the care of patients in the hospital that don't have surgical problems) or do a fellowship to sub-specialize. I have no idea what you mean by they work with other doctors to figure things out. Yes, they may be consulted on a patient on someone else's service, but mostly they will take care of their own patients.

Like any other specialty most see patients. Some also or exclusively do research or teach or do quality stuff or administrative stuff.

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[Toooldforms]

...internists are doctors, they did internal medicine residency and from there they can either be outpatient primary care doctors, hospitalists (doctors that the care of patients in the hospital that don't have surgical problems) or do a fellowship to sub-specialize. I have no idea what you mean by they work with other doctors to figure things out. Yes, they may be consulted on a patient on someone else's service, but mostly they will take care of their own patients.

Like any other specialty most see patients. Some also or exclusively do research or teach or do quality stuff or administrative stuff.

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I guess I'm not really sure of the difference between a standard physician and internist then . I've always heard them to be doctors' doctors who are called for patients consults, and don't always work directly with patients.

I'm interested in a profession where I have an md and practice medicine, but also research (bacterial illnesses) and work to find cures, what path would you suggest I take?

 

[topsoil municipio]

do you mean internal medicine or infectious disease?

 

[cactusman]

Internist generally makes me think primary care physician. There are also internal medicine subspecialties (e.g. neurology, rheumatology, immunology) which, like all careers as a physician, require an MD. Someone might be referred to one of these doctors by their PCP. However, doctors in these specialties might work with the same patients for decades in the case of chronic illness. Some PCPs practice a subspecialty as well as primary care; reimbursement tends to be lower for these doctors and they get fewer referrals.
Internal medicine subspecialties are probably the most common areas for physician scientists, although most internal medicine sub specialists are not in academia. Physician scientists may or may not have a PhD in addition to their MD.

 

[PTPoeny]

I guess I'm not really sure of the difference between a standard physician and internist then . I've always heard them to be doctors' doctors who are called for patients consults, and don't always work directly with patients.

I'm interested in a profession where I have an md and practice medicine, but also research (bacterial illnesses) and work to find cures, what path would you suggest I take?

What do you mean by "standard physician"?

There is no longer such a thing as a general practitioner if that is what you are thinking of. Every doctor has to do a residency and become board certified in a specialty. There are physicians in every specialty that do basic science research and they are frequently called physician scientists. There are combined MD-PhD programs that may be what you are looking for if you want to spend a significant portion of your career doing funded basic science research. Many people out there are also doing excellent research with straight MD training, it is up to you what you put into it and what opportunities you find. Studying bacterial illness is very broad and could be relevant to basically any specialty out there.

Surgical specialties have physicians studying post surgical infections and how to prevent them and anti-bacterial coatings on implants.

Pediatrics and Internal Medicine and all the subspecialties of these two, and Family medicine and Ob-gyns and neurologists and PM&R and emergency medicine deal with bacterial infections on a daily basis. Radiologists are frequently called upon to diagnose bacterial infections, dermatology has skin infections, ophtho has eye infections. ID doctors (both adult and Peds) obviously specialize in infections, but you could go into basically any specialty and find a niche studying bacterial infections.

Psychiatry might not deal with bacterial infections very often. Anesthesiologists take care of people with infections but generally aren't managing or diagnosing those infections as often.

Figure out what you want to do medicine wise and there will be opportunities to study bacterial infections in that specialty.

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[gyngyn]

Take a look at their Board specialty site: Home | ABIM.org

 

[Toooldforms]

What do you mean by "standard physician"?

There is no longer such a thing as a general practitioner if that is what you are thinking of. Every doctor has to do a residency and become board certified in a specialty. There are physicians in every specialty that do basic science research and they are frequently called physician scientists. There are combined MD-PhD programs that may be what you are looking for if you want to spend a significant portion of your career doing funded basic science research. Many people out there are also doing excellent research with straight MD training, it is up to you what you put into it and what opportunities you find. Studying bacterial illness is very broad and could be relevant to basically any specialty out there.

Surgical specialties have physicians studying post surgical infections and how to prevent them and anti-bacterial coatings on implants.

Pediatrics and Internal Medicine and all the subspecialties of these two, and Family medicine and Ob-gyns and neurologists and PM&R and emergency medicine deal with bacterial infections on a daily basis. Radiologists are frequently called upon to diagnose bacterial infections, dermatology has skin infections, ophtho has eye infections. ID doctors (both adult and Peds) obviously specialize in infections, but you could go into basically any specialty and find a niche studying bacterial infections.

Psychiatry might not deal with bacterial infections very often. Anesthesiologists take care of people with infections but generally aren't managing or diagnosing those infections as often.

Figure out what you want to do medicine wise and there will be opportunities to study bacterial infections in that specialty.

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thanks. I'm not actually interested in bacterial infections, it was just the first thing that came to mind for some reason. I'm interested in endocrinology. But your post was very helpful

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

the difference between a standard physician and internist then

What do you mean by a "standard physician?" Like Family Medicine?

 

[Toooldforms]

What do you mean by a "standard physician?" Like Family Medicine?

not necessarily, they could be peds, or some other specialty. but what's the difference between any other physician residency and going into internal? let's say for the same sub specialties? for ex. What's the difference between specializing in peds as an internist, and just going straight into a pediatrics residency? I hope i make sense?

 

[topsoil municipio]

U can't spec in peds from im unless u do combined and that defeats the purpose. There are set paths for everything. What r u interested in?

 

[PTPoeny]

not necessarily, they could be peds, or some other specialty. but what's the difference between any other physician residency and going into internal? let's say for the same sub specialties? for ex. What's the difference between specializing in peds as an internist, and just going straight into a pediatrics residency? I hope i make sense?

No, this post doesn't make sense. The difference between internal medicine and any other residency is you get trained in internal medicine and not any other specialty. There are sub specialties you can go to from internal medicine and others you can go to from other specialties. There are a few sub specialties you can get to from multiple initial residencies. I think spending some time reading over what is a residency and what is a fellowship and what fellowships you can get to from what residency might help.

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[AnatomyGrey12]

not necessarily, they could be peds, or some other specialty. but what's the difference between any other physician residency and going into internal? let's say for the same sub specialties? for ex. What's the difference between specializing in peds as an internist, and just going straight into a pediatrics residency? I hope i make sense?

By definition an internal medicine doctor only deals with adults.... unless they did a combined peds/IM residency. An example of an IM field would be something like cardiology.

 

[tessellations]

This might be helpful: here's a list of some of the subspecialities of internal medicine.

You mentioned you're interested in endocrinology, right? You could potentially go down two paths:
1) Residency in IM, then a fellowship in Endocrinology
or
2) Residency in Peds, then a fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology

With option 1, you'd be working with adults. With option 2, you'd be working with children and young adolescents.

 

[LizzyM]

Internists are physicians who are trained in internal medicine and either provide primary care or they do a fellowship in a specific specialty.
Some of the specialties of internal medicine are:
endocrinology
cardiology
pulmonology
gastroenterology
infectious disease
rheumatology
nephrology
allergy and immunology
hematology/oncology
geriatrics

Internists use physical exam skills, diagnostic imaging and laboratory testing to diagnose disease and monitor responses to therapy. Some perform procedures using scopes, catheters and needles to examine and obtain tissue and to administer treatments.

Some physicians are involved in the development and testing of new diagnostic tests and procedures and new treatments.

 

[Mednight]

You should definitely shadow an Internist.


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[candbgirl]

How far along are you in this journey? It seems like you really lack an understanding various medical fields and how to get there. Maybe you should shadow some internal medicine docs and some specialists.


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[Toooldforms]

By definition an internal medicine doctor only deals with adults.... unless they did a combined peds/IM residency. An example of an IM field would be something like cardiology.

Oh, now I get it. Internal medicine fields would be like endocrinology, or dermatology hence the internal part lol. .. It finally makes sense.

and peds-med is a combined residency, that's what I was think of

 

[Toooldforms]

How far along are you in this journey? It seems like you really lack an understanding various medical fields and how to get there. Maybe you should shadow some internal medicine docs and some specialists.


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Not far along at all. in fact I barely got started, I'm just trying to get an idea of what I'm interested

 

[PTPoeny]

Oh, now I get it. Internal medicine fields would be like endocrinology, or dermatology hence the internal part lol. .. It finally makes sense.

and peds-med is a combined residency, that's what I was think of

No, not quite. Dermatology is its own residency...

Really, go look at the list of residencies. Internal medicine is general adult medicine minus everything uterus related.

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[Toooldforms]

U can't spec in peds from im unless u do combined and that defeats the purpose. There are set paths for everything. What r u interested in?

I personally think I'd be most happy if I could become s pediatrician, but endocrinology kind of has a special place I'm my heart

 

[cactusman]

I personally think I'd be most happy if I could become s pediatrician, but endocrinology kind of has a special place I'm my heart

There's pediatric endocrinology though. I wouldn't be surprised if it's larger than adult endocrinology, given how important the endocrine system is in growth and development.

 

[Toooldforms]

No, not quite. Dermatology is its own residency...

Really, go look at the list of residencies. Internal medicine is general adult medicine minus everything uterus related.

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my bad, but I get the gist of it now

 

[Toooldforms]

There's pediatric endocrinology though. I wouldn't be surprised if it's larger than adult endocrinology, given how important the endocrine system is in growth and development.

I know, but I don't know if I'm interested in pediatric endocrinology.

 

[tessellations]

I know, but I don't know if I'm interested in pediatric endocrinology.

That's ok! You're still early on, and you don't even necessarily need to know what you want to do in terms of speciality when you enter medical school. If you're interested in pediatrics, you can always enter the residency and decide as you learn how to practice if you want to go into a pediatric subspeciality like endocrinology.

What I'd recommend is shadowing some different types of docs to see what you like the most!

 

[longhaul3]

Adult and pediatric endocrinology are quite different. But it really doesn't matter either way at this point - you won't even have to begin thinking about going into medicine vs. peds until your 3rd-ish year of med school, which I'm guessing for you is a ways away. At this point just make sure you want to be a doctor, period, since it's a whole lot of work and misery to put up with if you don't really want to do it. Even for those of us who love doing it, it's still miserable at times, but it's a wonderful vocation.

 

[IgEdoc]

By definition an internal medicine doctor only deals with adults.... unless they did a combined peds/IM residency. An example of an IM field would be something like cardiology.

One exception is Internal Medicine => Allergy/Immunology => treating ALL AGES due to the ABAI Board being a combined ABIM/ABP effort

 

[Inception8888]

Internist generally makes me think primary care physician. There are also internal medicine subspecialties (e.g. neurology, rheumatology, immunology) which, like all careers as a physician, require an MD. Someone might be referred to one of these doctors by their PCP. However, doctors in these specialties might work with the same patients for decades in the case of chronic illness. Some PCPs practice a subspecialty as well as primary care; reimbursement tends to be lower for these doctors and they get fewer referrals.
Internal medicine subspecialties are probably the most common areas for physician scientists, although most internal medicine sub specialists are not in academia. Physician scientists may or may not have a PhD in addition to their MD.

Neurology is not an IM sub-specialty. It has it's own residency track.

 

[Mad Jack]

I guess I'm not really sure of the difference between a standard physician and internist then . I've always heard them to be doctors' doctors who are called for patients consults, and don't always work directly with patients.

I'm interested in a profession where I have an md and practice medicine, but also research (bacterial illnesses) and work to find cures, what path would you suggest I take?

That's not what internists are at all. Internists are probably what you think of when you hear the word doctor- they are the ones that coordinate your care in the hospital and the generalists that most adults see in an outpatient setting. They consult others, not the other way around, and they deal with a wide range of illnesses. Antibiotic research is more of a basic science thing, you'd probably want to go MD/PhD or IM+ID.

 

[Mad Jack]

Internist generally makes me think primary care physician. There are also internal medicine subspecialties (e.g. neurology, rheumatology, immunology) which, like all careers as a physician, require an MD. Someone might be referred to one of these doctors by their PCP. However, doctors in these specialties might work with the same patients for decades in the case of chronic illness. Some PCPs practice a subspecialty as well as primary care; reimbursement tends to be lower for these doctors and they get fewer referrals.
Internal medicine subspecialties are probably the most common areas for physician scientists, although most internal medicine sub specialists are not in academia. Physician scientists may or may not have a PhD in addition to their MD.

Hospitalist work is the other big part of IM these days, which is the exact opposite of primary care.

 

[Inception8888]

what exactly does an internist do? I know they work with doctors to figure things out, but do they do research to find cures, or further medical advancements? Or is that solely ph.d work?

Internists are adult doctors. They deal in many different physiological systems and during residency training they will rotate between outpatient and inpatient settings dealing with various adult health issues in nature from endocrinological, cardac, pulmonary, allergy/immunological, infectious diseases, nephrotic, rheaumtological, critical care, sport medicine, etc. After they finish a 3 year residency, then you have the option to either start working as an independent practioner or specialize in a certain area. You also have to actually pass a board certification process from the American Board of Internal Medicine. With that being said, you do not deal with obstetric duties other than family physicians (dealing with non-breach positions births) and OB/GYNOs. Family medical doctors with have a wider scope that internists.

 

[Mad Jack]

not necessarily, they could be peds, or some other specialty. but what's the difference between any other physician residency and going into internal? let's say for the same sub specialties? for ex. What's the difference between specializing in peds as an internist, and just going straight into a pediatrics residency? I hope i make sense?

You can't specialize in peds from IM, kids are their own residency track entirely. Internists spend more time than anyone dealing with critically ill adults in an inpatient setting during residency. They can focus on a specialty afterwards by doing a fellowship, but no one is better at caring for sick adult patients than an internist, save for perhaps a critical care trained subspecialist.

 

[Mad Jack]

Neurology is not an IM sub-specialty. It has it's own residency track.

For whatever reason, the PM you started seems to be broken (I can't reply). It's an error I've never encountered before, very strange.