What Is the Essence of Being a Rheumatologist?

I really don’t know what the essence of being a rheumatologist is, but as St. Augustine wrote, “Let us be more content to find the truth, not understanding it, than to understand without finding it.”² Therefore, I believe the essence of being a rheumatologist lies in the art of unraveling mysteries. This is why we are called in when other specialists cannot unravel a patient’s problem.

Because there is nothing more enigmatic than ourselves, I would say, without a doubt, that we rheumatologists are specialists in human beings.

Carlos Antonio Moura, MD, is a rheumatologist and staff of the internal medicine residency program at Hospital Santo Antônio and Hospital Geral Roberto Santos, in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. He also teaches at Salvador University and Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública. (Twitter and Instagram: @Rheumaspeak)

Carlos Geraldo Moura, PhD, is a rheumatologist and chief of the internal medicine residency program at Hospital Santo Antônio in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, and teaches at Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública.

References

1. Rheumatism. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com.
2. Agostinho [St. Augustine]. Confissões [Confessions]. Brazil: Ciranda Cultural, 2019.