In recognition of our Internists

An "Internist" is a term applied to a Specialist Physician in the sphere of Internal Medicine, a discipline that deals with "internal" diseases. Basically anything and everything from blood disorders to brain disorders and everything in between.

Perhaps one of the most famous Internists in history is Sir William Osler, a man who laid the groundwork for the science and analysis that makes Internal Medicine what it is. Osler was "an astute and discerning observer of both health and disease", doing this to "achieve the best possible understanding of normal physiological function and the clinical manifestations and mechanisms of disease", so that optimal care can be targeted to prevent disease, and to treat those who are unwell.

This is valid for an Internist, if only because of the varied length and breadth of conditions they treat, and the stage of disease they must contend with in doing so. An Internist is a solver of problems, and he can solve a problem precisely because he has identified it clearly.

Internists oftentimes answer the call, stepping up to the plate when asked by other departments (in addition to their own intake days) to lend a hand in rectifying a problem, or to even clarify what the problem is.

Osler himself was masterful in this regard, describing loosely a "toxaemia" associated with severe pneumonias that has now been understood to in fact be a cytokine storm, not unlike the one being conjured up by the Pandemic we are currently facing.

Here too the Internists have extended yeoman effort, "treating patients in primary care and ambulatory settings, hospitalists, critical care/intensivists, and the wide range of subspecialty internists focused on dealing with the infectious, pulmonary, and multiple other clinical manifestations of COVID-19 about which we are rapidly learning."

"And the work of internists in public health and the basic and clinical sciences in seeking to protect our society and ultimately control the infection has been essential in our response to the pandemic."

So on this National Internal Medicine Day, we recognize and salute our Internists, and we remember how far we have come from where we once started.

"Medicine is learned by the bedside and not in the classroom. Let not your concepts of the manifestations of disease come from words heard in the lecture room or read from the book. See, and then reason and compare and control. But see first. No two eyes see the same thing. No two mirrors give forth the same reflection. Let your word be your slave and not your master."

- Sir William Osler

*Excerpts are taken from the recent ACP post on KevinMD.*