What's the difference between Pathology and Internal medicine?

**Adamsom** · 07-01-2010, 04:24 PM

Hi All,

What's the difference (aren't they both based on the diagnosis of diseases)? Can you study Pathology and Internal medicine in med school? Is it a good match?

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**LePomS** · 02-03-2010, 01:39 AM

Whats internal medicine?
define the two.

**leicester-medic-27** · 10-04-2010, 02:45 AM

Originally Posted by Adamsom

Hi All,

What's the difference (aren't they both based on the diagnosis of diseases)? Can you study Pathology and Internal medicine in med school? Is it a good match?

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Hi Adamsom,
from what i understand pathology refers to histology of disease to diagnose and can also involve autopsies to work out how person died. Internal medicine is an umberella term for other branches of medicine like cardiology, endocrinology etc. Pathology can have its own subtypes, but it more involved in the diagnosis of diseases via microscope slides. We have studied all these in my medical school.

**david1104** · 30-04-2010, 02:28 AM

Originally Posted by leicester-medic-27

Hi Adamsom,
from what i understand pathology refers to histology of disease to diagnose and can also involve autopsies to work out how person died. Internal medicine is an umberella term for other branches of medicine like cardiology, endocrinology etc. Pathology can have its own subtypes, but it more involved in the diagnosis of diseases via microscope slides. We have studied all these in my medical school.

well when you say via microscope slides, that is ONE way a pathologist tests. From what i understand, a pathologist is predominantly the person in the lab running all the tests. The internist (doctor of internal medicine) is the guy on the wards seeing the patients and ordering the tests. A patholigist runs tests on blood samples, urine samples, sputum (and everything else) and actual tissue samples looking at the biochemistry, molecular biological and micriobiological quality/content of the sample. They use many techniques from cytoloigical, histological, molecular and microbilogical. There are branches of pathology like forensic pathology which involves establishing cause of deaths. Pathologist have very little (living) patient contact. Pathology suits a lot of people because of this and becasue of the good hours.

**leicester-medic-27** · 30-04-2010, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by david1104

well when you say via microscope slides, that is ONE way a pathologist tests. From what i understand, a pathologist is predominantly the person in the lab running all the tests. The internist (doctor of internal medicine) is the guy on the wards seeing the patients and ordering the tests. A patholigist runs tests on blood samples, urine samples, sputum (and everything else) and actual tissue samples looking at the biochemistry, molecular biological and micriobiological quality/content of the sample. They use many techniques from cytoloigical, histological, molecular and microbilogical. There are branches of pathology like forensic pathology which involves establishing cause of deaths. Pathologist have very little (living) patient contact. Pathology suits a lot of people because of this and becasue of the good hours.

Yes, slides are one way they test. But sputum usually given to microbiologists (who are also doctors), blood to haematologists (who are again doctors). Even some tissue samples do not make it to a pathologist unless something abnormal is seen. Yes most forms of pathology have little living patient contact, but there isn't true for home office pathology. where you give evidence in court as expert witness and examine people who have been raped or attacked, aswell as examining murder victims. This is the area of pathology i hope to go into.