What level Physician skill should an MD have?

[Refplace]

This could make a decent Pyramid article or even fit into a few of the E23 wish list items.
Disasters: PLauges
Modern World: 911 (not on the list but it could fit the criteria)
Supporting Cast: Medics (List of various NPCs with skills for a variety of professions and specilities.

[Tomsdad]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

And for that matter, what's an "internist"?

Someone doing an Internship, maybe? (but I'm not sure why they wouldn't just be an intern).


FWIW

I tend to have Dr's and surgeons with the relevant stats* at 11-12 anyway which makes skills of 14-16 not so tough to justify (especially given the long training periods).

There's an advantage for better than DX manual dexterity isn't there, (I think) that would be pretty appropriate for Surgeons as well in case you don't want them also being cheap martial artists and race drivers.

[ericthered]

Internist: A physician who specializes in the diagnosis and medical treatment of adults. This specialty, called internal medicine, is dedicated to adult medicine. A minimum of seven years of medical school and postgraduate training are focused on learning the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases of adults. Subspecialties of internal medicine include allergy and immunology, cardiology (heart), endocrinology (hormone disorders), hematology (blood disorders), infectious diseases, gastroenterology (diseases of the gut), nephrology (kidney diseases), oncology (cancer), pulmonology (lung disorders), and rheumatology (arthritis and musculoskeletal disorders).

http://www.medterms.com/script/main/...rticlekey=3997

I like how they use the word "adults" rather than "old people".

[trans]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

And for that matter, what's an "internist"?

Specialists in Internal Medicine. In GURPS terms, they are the ones with the highest levels of Diagnosis. Dr. House is a cinematic version.

Around 1980 I was on the ferry from Michigan's Upper Peninsula to Isle Royale, and the irrepressible NPS forest ranger, Ranger Bob, gave a presentation on wilderness survival. Besides sharing some neat tricks like drilling holes in your toothbrush to reduce weight, he asked for those in the audience who had first aid training to raise their hands. My father, sitting next to me, raised his hand, and I stared at him uncomprehendingly - where and when did he learn that?

He was trained in first aid as a physician, of course, and in earlier years did duty in the emergency ward in a big-city hospital.

On the other hand, as a cardiologist who likes to take Extra Time for all kinds of tasks, he isn't the person I'd want to go to for emergency surgery. For diagnosis in his specialty - absolutely, and he did fine treating my bronchitis, strep throat and sprained joints from time to time (Physician skill, I assume).

As an aside, when I was even younger I went with my Dad to the hospital on weekends when he was on call. I thought: "those poor doctors in the oncology department, they must always be on call".

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Refplace

This could make a decent Pyramid article or even fit into a few of the E23 wish list items.
Disasters: PLauges
Modern World: 911 (not on the list but it could fit the criteria)
Supporting Cast: Medics (List of various NPCs with skills for a variety of professions and specilities.

There was an article in Pyramid v2, some years ago, by Eric Funk, about medical professions. IIRC it was for 4th Edition. It seemed generally well-researched, but didn't really interest me because it didn't contain any real information about medica education or medical career paths.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by trans

Specialists in Internal Medicine. In GURPS terms, they are the ones with the highest levels of Diagnosis. Dr. House is a cinematic version.

I think this is a good example of a case where the explanation can be improved vastly by also explaining that X is the oppsite of.

What's the opposite of an internist? If a long-term career physician doesn't become an internist or a surgeon, what can he become instead?

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

What's the opposite of an internist? If a long-term career physician doesn't become an internist or a surgeon, what can he become instead?

A specialist. They choose one part of the body and become very knowledgeable about its various problems and techniques for treating them. They get to know the drugs, the excercizes, the dietary changes, and so on for all those problems. When you have something very wrong with you:

The GP tells you you've got something wrong and sends you to the internist.
The internist tells you what kind of a problem you have and sends you to the right specialist.
The specialist determines the best way to fix the issue, and sends you to the surgeon, pharmacist, or therapist (and may be himself the surgeon or the therapist)

[DangerousThing]

Originally Posted by trans

Specialists in Internal Medicine. In GURPS terms, they are the ones with the highest levels of Diagnosis. Dr. House is a cinematic version.

No, the fictitious Dr. House is a diagnostician, which is the specialty of diagnosis. They, not internists, would have (hopefully) the highest level of Diagnosis.

This is one of the few shows that both Lee and I can agree on, though it's one of the most unrealistic medical shows around. But it's a lot of fun.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by acrosome

Jesus, Kromm (MYLF), do Canadian FPs really get 40 minute appointment slots? Here in the southern provinces 15 minutes is considered generous...

Add the extra prep time spent looking over the patient's chart. That's time a field medic doesn't and can't spend.

[Anders]

Most of the diseases will be head colds, and sprains. Routine, +4 TDM.