What is medical biology?
Medical biology is a specialty whose goal is above all:
- carrying out medical biology examinations to measure the different constituents of biological fluids (blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, etc.)
- the medical interpretation of the results in order to characterize the physiopathological origin of a disease. The value of examination results varies depending on the age and condition of the patient; certain constituents only exist in cases of pathology.
Medical biology is a specialty at the heart of the medical diagnosis process: about 70% of diagnoses in general medicine are made with the support of biological results.
Beyond the diagnosis, medical biology allows the follow-up of patients suffering from chronic pathology and the dosage adjustment of their treatment, as well as the control of the tolerance of their treatment (side effects).
In France, this medical specialty is exclusively exercised by doctors or pharmacists specialized in medical biology (Article L6213-1).
Other Frequently Asked Questions
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What is the role of your biologist? Your medical biologists are all graduates with a doctorate in medicine or pharmacy.
After their initial training, they all passed the internship competition and followed a medical biology internship for 4 years in order to obtain a specialist diploma in medical biology (DES).
The medical biologist has a central role in the care of the patient and in his course of care, his panel of missions is vast and diversified, ranging from the supervision of the teams to the signature of the biological assessments:
- taking samples (blood, microbiological, etc.)
- carrying out medical biology examinations to measure the different constituents of biological fluids (blood, urine, stool, etc.)
- the reporting of results to patients and doctors after medical-technical expertise
- medical interpretation of results and provision of advice
- close collaboration with prescribing physicians and nurses: advice on the interpretation of assessments and the examinations to be prescribed, communication of urgent and pathological results in order to ensure the best possible care.