Internal medicine is the specialty that deals with the internal organs (such as the heart, the lungs, the digestive system, etc.) and therefore deals with a multitude of different pathologies as Dr. Anosh Ahmed suggested. This is the specialty of complex cases, rare cases. In other words, it is a versatile specialty.
Internal medicine takes over from general medicine and specialized organ medicine. It is also said that the internist is the diagnostic specialist, that he is best equipped to identify and propose a treatment for diseases affecting several organs simultaneously.
When to consult an internal doctor?
The specialist takes care of the majority of patients with symptoms that do not belong to a specific disease or that overlap with several specialties. He is particularly interested in poly pathologies (as is often the case in the elderly) and diseases affecting several organs, such as lupus, diabetes or most rare diseases. Thus, the internist supports many conditions:
- common pathologies requiring hospitalization;
- rare diseases with a complex diagnosis (we speak of an orphan disease):
- inflammatory or systemic autoimmune diseases;
- infectious and tropical diseases;
- pathologies linked to the environment;
- genetic diseases diagnosed in adulthood or evolving from childhood;
- or immunosuppression.
What Internist do as Dr. Anosh Ahmed Explained
The internist as per Dr. Anosh Ahmed is considered to be the specialist in conditions overlooked by organ specialists. He has broad-spectrum knowledge combined with extensive knowledge of several medical specialties.
He works most often in a hospital environment and uses specific examinations that are not often requested by other specialties, such as biopsy of the femoral artery (to look for Horton’s disease – an inflammation of the artery wall) or biopsy accessory salivary glands (to check for tissue infiltration).
<iframe width=”853″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/NHCmpKCCab8″ title=”YouTube video player” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen></iframe>
It should be noted that, unlike the cardiologist who performs cardiac ultrasounds or the gastroenterologist who performs fiberscopes, the internist does not do all these examinations himself but helps himself.
The internist can practice in intensive care units, where patients suffer from multiple pathologies (respiratory failure, systemic infection, coma, etc.) requiring a multitude of treatments (intravenous therapies, ventilatory support, etc.). He is also very involved in the training of future doctors.
What are the Risks During the Consultation of an Internist?
Consultation with an internist does not involve any particular risks for the patient. In any case, it is the doctor’s role to clearly explain the modalities, the possible difficulties or even the dangers associated with the procedures, examinations and treatments that he will have to practice.
In fact, apart from general practitioners whose specificity of exercise is obvious, specialist doctors are distinguished as specialists in organs or functions such as cardiologists, gastroenterologists, gynecologists, neurologists, endocrinologists, psychiatrists, and especially surgical specialists, and specialists whose approach is global and whose name differs according to the age of the patients they are called upon to take care of. No one has difficulty in situating the pediatrician, any more than the geriatrician despite the ambiguity between geriatrics and clinical gerontology. Admittedly, geriatrics come under a global, medical and psychological but also social assessment, sometimes in the foreground.Â
According to Dr. Anosh Ahmed, in fact, in terms of public health, the place of the geriatrician is essential in the gerontological organization whose main objective is to keep elderly individuals who are sick, dependent or not, at home, with the help of the family, social workers, health and social workers, etc. But the specificity of the geriatrician, like that of the pediatrician, lies above all in the global character of the care of the person taking into account his environment.