VIDEO: A message from Darilyn V. Moyer, MD, FACP, on Internal Medicine Day

National Internal Medicine Day is observed each year on Oct. 28 to acknowledge the significant role that internal medicine physicians play in the health care system.

As experts in complex care, Darilyn V. Moyer, MD, FACP, FRCP, FIDSA, FAMWA, an internal medicine and infectious disease physician and executive vice president and CEO of ACP, said internal medicine physicians are “foundational to our system,” and the field is “so much more than just doing primary care.”

“Internal medicine physicians are leaders. We can take care of any patient, anytime, anywhere,” Moyer, who is also an adjunct professor at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, told Healio. “If we can’t physically do the procedure that we need, we certainly know who to call.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Moyer said that internal medicine physicians “shouldered the burden disproportionately,” whether in the outpatient, inpatient or ICU setting. On National Internal Medicine Day, Moyer’s message to fellow internal medicine physicians is “one of gratitude.”

“I want to thank you and send a note of gratitude to all of you for all the work that you do every day — all you do to put patients first,” she said. “It is a really challenging time. Patients are very, very ill. I just want to say I hope that you’ll follow the first rule, that you can’t take care of others unless you take care of yourself. I hope that you’ll turn to your ACP Chapter and to ACP resources, as well as your local resources, when you find that those challenges can sometimes be a bit overwhelming. We are all here as colleagues, team members, and here to support each other.”