press release of the Spanish society of internal medicine (SEMI).
Madrid, June of 2011- the Board directive of the Spanish society of internal medicine at the events that are happening behind the creation new medical Spain, and in particular specialties, infectious diseases and emergencies, wishes to express to the health authorities and public opinion as follows:
-both infectious diseases as urgent medical problems form an essential part and inherent to the specialty of internal medicine, and the internists are indispensable, because the same compromise the care to our patients and it would therefore be irresponsible professional.
– the services of internal medicine, with over 550,000 annual revenues, is the specialty with the highest income from er. The internist, in collaboration with other professional groups, working for years in emergency services, share this workplace with other specialties, especially with family physicians, serve all the urgencies and emergencies of our hospital services and in some hospitals of all of hospitalized medical specialties
-the number of high of our services by infectious disease, mostly in the context of multiple associated chronic diseases, is the highest of Spain according to data from the national health system MBDS. Attention to these diseases is shared with other multiple specialty medical and surgical, and therefore lacks any exclusivity.
– at the moment there is no problem of training of doctors with deep expertise in infectious disease and international standards of care for these diseases are comparable to those of the best countries. Coping of emerging infectious diseases in recent decades has become, majority from internal medicine, and the messages of a lack of doctors prepared to address these problems in the coming years or generational replacement, lack of basis and do not respond to the educational reality of our specialty.
-the creation of these two medical specialties would damage significantly our curriculum content, our portfolio of services and our professional development opportunity. On the other hand it would induce changes in the educational offer, it would require fragmenting services with a greater complexity in the health centres, it would create problems of health care organization, powers of allocation of patients, professional responsibility and overall inefficiency of the health system of incalculable consequences. In our view should avoid complex organizational decisions, such as which arises, in the current economic situation without strong evidence of a cost-benefit-friendly society.
– in the present, raise new medical specialties, without having adopted and implemented the project of core subjects has no basis and has our firm opposition. The adoption of a new specialty opens the possibility of claims cascading of multiple medical societies of specific pathologies to create other specialties in its field of interest, and which could provide arguments with the same strength as those raised at this time.
-needs care of high specificity, which undoubtedly exist and where to include infectious diseases, especially in reference and emergency hospitals, have their place and a framework law of management of health professions, the recognition of specialists with specific training. The areas of training specific (ACEs), recognized in the Act of 2003, has not been implemented without any justified reason. The legal framework allows access to a same ACE from various medical specialties through experience certification, accreditation of professional skills and with a known procedure. From the National Commission for internal medicine has risen months ago to the ministerial authorities project areas of training in infectious diseases and emergencies in our specialty, while has issued no statement.
– for the reasons given invite reflection and negotiating authorities before making a decision of a similar nature which could have irreparable consequences for the more than 5,000 internists in our country and 1,575 doctors in training, and that the health system can be compromised in the coming decades.
