Sergio Said:

Do you think good internists(internal medicine doctors) are a dime dozen?

We Answered:

No, I would say good internists are much harder to find. I've been to too many doctors that didn't take enough time to find out what's wrong and just throw a prescription at me that I know it's harder to find a good doctor.
From my experience, it takes some good searching and/or references to find a doctor of any sort that takes time to listen and find out what's really wrong. Is there any reason you're asking?

Shirley Said:

Internal medicine doctors?

We Answered:

You need a college degree. While most med students majored in a science (typically biology) and have a BS degree (no snickering please), a BA is acceptable, you have to have at least one year of biology, chemistry, physics, and math (usually statistics and calculus) to apply to medical school. There may be additional requirements depending on which med school you ask. A pre-med major is generally a good idea, but again, not a requirement. Any college can prepare you to apply to med school- while some colleges may have a reputation as a good pre-med school, it's far more important that you do well where you are instead of just where you go. You must then graduate from medical school which gives you either an MD or DO degree depending on which type of school (allopathic or osteopathic) you attend. Those are the only two degrees you need but you would also have to complete a three year internal medicine residency before you'd be allowed to practice on your own. You can practice medicine after just one year of residency, but you would be considered a "general practitioner", not an internal medicine doctor which is a specilaty just like family practice is a specialty.

Pedro Said:

are family practice and internal medicine doctors referred to as pcp?

We Answered:

a pcp is a primary care physician and can be any doctor who is in internal medicine or a pediatrician someone who deals with your overall health once something were to happen like something in a particular area your pcp will refer you to a specialist like nuerologist or ear nose throat and so on

Donald Said:

Where do Internal Medicine Doctors work?

We Answered:

Internists work at offices outside of the hospital, or adjacent medical buildings to the hospital. They also see in patients in the hospital. Years ago, every hospital had provided rooms for each specialties, now smaller community type of hospitals don't provide them. Only the teaching hospitals do for their med students, interns and the residents and the specialists. ICU's ? if the physician has patients there they will visit them there. I don't really follow your question...Are you asking what other special areas of internal medicine are in the hospital or in general ? If so, Broadly, Cardiologists, Nephrologists, Pulmonary specialists,Neurologists, Immunologists, Urologists are all in the category of Internal Medicine. Hope this info helps.

Dennis Said:

Why do Internal Medicine doctors make so little?

We Answered:

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)