Let us explore the job role of primary care physicians

Primary care physicians are the health care specialists that offer first level medical care to stabilize the condition of the patient in case of emergency. 

As name suggests, they offer basic level of medical care and treatment for non-serious health emergencies such as severe cold, cough, vomiting, sinus infection, muscles pulling, and basic level of care when you feel difficulty in breathing, migraine, seasonal allergies, immediate care for burns, and others. In case of accidental issues where the involvement of a specialized surgeon is essential, they refer such type of cases to specialized doctors after providing basic level of medical care.

The integral part of the healthcare field, these medical professionals completed their medical education in different disciplines.  Depending upon their area of practice the primary care physicians can be differentiated as internal medicine, general practitioners, and pediatricians.

Physicians who are specialized in internal medicine deal with preventive care, analysis, and treatment of adult diseases. Similarly, general practitioners provide medical care and treatment for family based health issues. The pediatricians are the general practitioners that deal with the treatment of children.

If you are suffering from any non-serious health condition that requires immediate attention of primary care physicians, rather than handling it by yourself take recommendation of Staten Island medical group based physicians. They specialty of their service is that they offer medical 24*7 hours inpatient and outpatient service. The immediate treatment, even for your minor health issue, is the basic part of the heath care service rendered by them.

In the next section, we will understand the basic job role of PCPs. They, according to their specialty, provide direct care to patients of various age groups such as adults, children, and family. They also provide consultation and instructions to patients. The job of PCP also involves preventive care. They teach patients about various preventive healthcare measures so to make their life symptom free and disease free. According to patient’s current health status, they create preventive care plan that includes physical examination, diabetes screening, high blood pressure screening etc.

The medical care offered by such physicians is not limited to diagnosis. Based upon the result of evaluations and diagnosis, they create appropriate treatment plan. If necessary, PCP also runs some laboratory tests and X-rays. Based upon their results, they examine prolonged and serious illness. Depending upon patient’s health concern, they refer patients to emergency rooms for specialized treatment.

How can an endocrinologist help you?

An endocrinologist is a medical expert who has completed three years of post-graduate training in internal medicine. He or she is one who is specialized in treating the diseases and disorders associated with the endocrine system of the human body.

Following are few areas that an endocrinologist treats:

• Cancer of the endocrine glands: Endocrine system comprises of endocrine glands such as pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, pancreatic and adrenal glands which secrete hormones and when gets imbalanced leads to cancer.

• Cholesterol disorders: Cholesterol is of two type’s low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and high-density lipoproteins (HDL). LDL cholesterol is called bad cholesterol and HDL cholesterol is called good cholesterol. However, body needs cholesterol for its proper working, but if not secreted then it leads to two cholesterol disorders called hyperlipidemia (unusually high level of fat) and hypolipidemia (unusually low level of fat).

• Diabetes: Primary care providers in NYC say that when body fails to utilize the ingested glucose properly it leads to diabetes problem. This is because lack of hormone insulin leads to high blood glucose that damage the blood vessels. Further problem of diabetes causes several complications like heart disease, kidney damage, nerve damage, eye damage and blindness, impotence and stroke.

• Hypertension: Also referred as high blood pressure, it’s a problem associated with heart. The heart when does not work regularly it damages various organs like coronary arteries, the brain, the kidneys, and the eyes. Blood pressure when comes below 120/80 it is said to be normal. However, if blood pressure is between 120/80 and 139/89 is called prehypertension and when between 140/90 or above is considered hypertension.

• Menopause: With growing age, women face this issue. A phase describes the end of reproductive period of women. In other words, women will no longer be able to have children.

• Metabolic disorders: When organism metabolism is affected, it leads to metabolic disorders. The risk factors of this syndrome are large waistline, high triglyceride level, low HDL cholesterol level, high blood pressure, and High fasting blood sugar.

• Osteoporosis: This disease is related to bones. When bones are weakened, it is at a risk of getting break even if one sneeze or bump into furniture. This means bone loses its density and causes structure of bone tissue to become abnormal. Usually, this problem occurs with people who are of the age 50.

Geriatricians- A good choice for older adults who have complicated medical and social issues

Our health care needs increases with age. With the passage of time, we may find ourselves going to numerous doctors for medical treatment, but coming at the age of 65 we would not want to juggle with prescriptions, tests, and doctors’ appointments. This is where a geriatrician proves to be of great help.

A geriatrician is a primary care doctor in NYC who specializes in providing medical care to people of 65 years of age, or older. Like pediatrician is for children, geriatrician is medical expert who takes care of senior or aged people.

Geriatricians approach each patient's needs individually, and possess the knowledge and expertise needed to accommodate seniors.

Board certified in internal medicine and pursued additional training in areas pertaining to elder care geriatricians are expert in solving various issues related to older people. The issues which geriatrician can solve are memory loss, arthritis, osteoporosis, mobility, and Alzheimer's disease.

Besides looking after the physical problems of aged people, geriatrics also treat issues that affect them socially and emotionally.

Many people think that aging is the cause of problem in seniors, but this is hypothetical belief of people! This is why seeking for the help of geriatrician is important, if one wants to get complete information about the problems, causes, and treatment of aged people.

What can a geriatrician do for you?

At times, when you visit Geriatrician, a proper care and treatment would be provided. A through assessment would be carried out by the expert doctor before the treatment gets started. The assessment starts with a detailed questionnaire that involves: complete physical exam, a discussion on the patient’s comprehensive medical history, review of medications being taken, what they are treating, analysis of pain levels, cognitive and memory testing, osteoporosis screening, vision and hearing tests, dietary consultation, and a family conference.

To be accurate in results, geriatrician physician carries proper diagnosis of patient. They leave no stone unturned to provide medical help to aged people. For better results and good treatment, they make sure to collect information about patient’s lifestyles, community, family, and their entire medical history.

When to consult a geriatrician

Regardless of age, geriatrician should be consulted at times when aged patient condition causes considerable impairment and frailty, have multiple diseases and disabilities, problems with cognition or dementia and need someone to manage medications.

What types of allergies is body prone to?

Allergy is common to happen, when body gets exposed to an allergen. The allergic reaction may not be seen immediately but a sensation might be faced when body gets immune to allergen.

Allergies are of various types, which are classified as per the body parts as explained by the multispecialty medical group professionals of NY. To name a few are as follows:

Respiratory allergy

Commonly known as hay fever and medically referred as allergic rhinitis, it is the most common forms of allergy. This allergy occurs when nose get exposed to allergens. An immediate affect can be seen, which lead to inflammation and sneezes. In case if it is not controlled it can spread in the lungs.

Skin allergy

Also known as contact allergy, it can either be caused due to some allergic reaction or by coming in direct contact with the allergen present in environment. Some common causes of skin allergy are plants, animals, food, jewelry, clothes and medicines and its manifestation is red, bumpy, scaly, eczema and urticaria. If the allergy gets spread it can get aggravate and may start bleeding.

Insect sting allergy

It is common form of allergy mainly found in rural areas. Pain and swelling accompanied by redness in the area is common reaction that one can see after getting bitten from an insect. In such a situation immediate medical attention is a must otherwise things can worse and outcome could be fatal. So, never be late and contact the specialist.

Food allergy

As the name describes, food allergy is caused when consumed rotten food or fruit. This allergy causes skin rashes, swollen lips and eyelids, stomach ache, diarrhea, vomiting and breathing problems. The best way to get prevent from such allergy is self-observation. You need to be cautious when in-taking any food, as food kept for many days might have got allergens which would put your health in trouble.

Besides food, allergy can also be caused due to certain medications as well. It might lead to fatal consequences, if not taken care of beforehand.

After learning all these types of allergies, you must have got an idea which allergy you have got and what treatment you require for the same.

The best treatment for skin allergies is to be safe from allergens. In some cases, when safeguarding from allergens is not possible, you must see an allergist or dermatologist. Only a specialist can help you get cure from the allergy.

Why choose pediatric care at times of pulmonary diseases?

People suffering from lung and respiratory disorders must take pulmonary pediatric treatment. The pediatricians work closely on patients who are suffering from pulmonary and critical care emergencies, tuberculosis, asthma, pneumonia, chronic lung disease, lung tumors, respiratory failure and sleep apnoea. ​

In Staten Island, the department of pulmonary medical group physicians is divided into various sections which help provide comprehensive care to patients. The departments are as follows:

Pulmonary function lab

This department undertakes the tests and diagnoses of the patients suffering from pulmonary diseases. These that are conducted in this lab are of spirometry, lung volumes, diffusion capacity, respiratory drive, bronchoprovocation test, allergic skin test, airway resistance and chest wall compliance.

Bronchoscopy suite

To diagnose the problem in lung, therapeutic bronchoscopy test is conducted. The test comprise of a bronchoscopy suite with video bronchoscope. It is a technique of visualizing the lungs airway problem via the instrument called bronchoscope.

Interventional pulmonology

Some advanced diagnoses which cannot be treated during the bronchoscopy suite are treated in advanced bronchoscopy techniques like foreign body removal, Transbronchial lymph node aspiration, Bronchial stents, Electrocautery for Endobronchial lesions and Endobronchial brachytherapy.

Asthma & allergic disease

People who are allergic and prone to asthma, they can get a specialized treatment in the department of allergy and asthma testing. A proper counseling is provided to patients suffering from all types of allergic respiratory disease.

Respiratory intensive care unit

Many times when treatment is not making the patient cure and it has led to respiratory failure, at that time a fully equipped respiratory ICU is available for those patients. The ICU comprises of advanced ventilators and bipap machines which help provide patients best possible care.

What services are offered in the medical group that offers pulmonary pediatric treatment care?

• Twenty-four hour state-of-the-art in-patient care is provided for pulmonary and critical care patients.

• Non-invasive and chronic ventilator services are there in the medical group.

• Patients who can’t quite smoking for them there is a specialized clinic that helps patients out in smoking cessation.

• A sleep laboratory is there that help out in carrying the diagnosis and therapy of sleep related breathing disorders.

• CT scans of spiral are easily available.

• A fully equipped laboratory is there in the medical group that performs tuberculosis, fungal and routine bacterial culture studies, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for TB and various serological tests.

• Customized exercises and education is also a part of treatment that is provided to patients in the clinic.