Medicine
This article is about medical science and practice. For substances that treat patients, see drugs, medication and pharmacology.
A note to contributors: This article is about medicine in general. Please consider adding your contributions about medical topics to individual articles rather than this page (many are linked below, and there are more on the List of medical topics), and please think twice before adding more links here - otherwise this article could easily degenerate into an unreadable list of links.
Medicine is an area of human knowledge and behaviour concerned with restoring health. It is, in the broadest sense of the term, the science and practice of the prevention and curing of human diseases, and other ailments of the human body or mind. The term is, however, often used to refer more specifically to those matters dealt with by academically trained physicians and surgeons. There are many traditional and modern methods and schools of healing which are usually not considered to be part of (Western) medicine in a strict sense (see health science for an overview).
The most highly developed systems of medicine outside of the Western or Hippocratic tradition (q.v. Hippocrates) are the Ayurvedic school (of India) and traditional Chinese medicine. The remainder of this article focuses on the mainstream of the Western medical tradition.
(Western) medicine has two aspects: both as an area of knowledge (a science), and as an application of that knowledge (the medical professions). Evidence-based medicine is an attempt to link these two aspects through the use of the scientific method and techniques derived from safety engineering.
The various specialized branches of the science of medicine correspond to equally specialized medical professions dealing with particular organs or diseases. The science of medicine is the body of knowledge about body systems and diseases, while the profession of medicine refers to the social structure of the group of people formally trained to apply that knowledge to treat disease.
History of medicine
History of medicine -- Timeline of medicine and medical technology
Museums & Collections of Health & Medicine
The delivery of modern health care depends on an expanding group of highly trained professionals coming together as an interdisciplanary team. Medical doctors have many specializations and subspecializations which are listed below. Dentistry and psychology, while separate disciplines from medicine, are often considered medical fields in the wider definition of the term. Practitioners such as physician assistants, nurse practitioners and midwives also treat patients and prescribe medication in many legal jurisdictions. The modern health care team also depdends on many health care professions, including: nurses, laboratory scientists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, dieteticians and bioengineers.
The foundation sciences underpinning human medicine overlap veterinary medicine.
Medicine is a diverse field and the provision of medical care is therefor provided in a variety of locations. In addition to inpatient hospital settings medical services are often provided in locations such as emergency departements, endoscopy departments, outpatients department, operating theaters, and birth suites. Modern medical care also depends on information still delivered in many health care settings on paper records, but with increasing frequency by electronic means.
Medical training is long and grueling, involving several years of university study followed by several more years of residential practice at a hospital. Entry to a medical degree in some countries (such as the United States) requires the completion of another degree first, while in other countries (such as the United Kingdom) medical training can be commenced as an undergraduate degree immediately after secondary education. Once graduated from medical school most physicians begin their residency training, where skills in a speciality of medicine are learned, supervised by more experienced doctors. The first year of residency is known as the Intern year. The duration of residency training depends on the speciality.
Following is the most common path of U.S. academic training to be a physician, with length and average age at completion. There are many small variations.
A medical graduate can then enter general practice and become a general practitioner; or they can specialise in any one of a number fields to become a specialist. No matter what they choose, even more training is involved.
In most countries, it is prohibited to practice medicine without a proper degree in that field and doctors must be licensed by a medical board or some other equivalent organization. This is meant as a safeguard against charlatans. These laws are obstacles to those who would want to pretend to training and expertise they have not earned, such as practitioners of alternative medicine or faith healing.
Big killers -- Rare diseases -- Iatrogenesis
Medical sciences and medical professions
Basic, supplementary and related sciences
Diagnostic and imaging specialties
Disciplines of clinical medicine
Settings Where Medical Care is Delivered
Teaching of medicine
The name of the medical degree gained at the end varies: some countries (e.g. the US) call it 'Doctor of Medicine' (abbreviated 'M.D.'), while others (e.g. Australia, Britain, Pakistan) call it 'Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery (Chirurgie)' (a double degree, frequently abbreviated 'M.B.B.S' or 'M.B.B.Ch.'). In either case graduates of a medical degree may call themselves physician. In the US and some other contries there is a parallel system of medicine called Osteopathy which awards the degree D.O. doctor of osteopathy. In many countries, a doctorate of medicine does not require original research as does, in distinction, a PhD.Legal restrictions
Institutions in medicine
Clinic -- Hospital -- HospiceRelated topics
Health profession -- Healthcare system -- List of medical abbreviations -- medical equipment -- List of medical schools in the U.SSee also
External links
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| Health science - Medicine |
| Anesthesiology - Dermatology - Emergency Medicine - General practice - Intensive care medicine - Internal medicine - Neurology - Obstetrics & Gynecology - Pediatrics - Public Health & Occupational Medicine - Psychiatry - Radiology - Surgery |
| Branches of Internal medicine |
| Cardiology - Endocrinology - Gastroenterology - Hematology - Infectious diseasess - Nephrology - Oncology - Pulmonology - Rheumatology |
| Branches of Surgery |
| General surgery - Cardiothoracic surgery - Neurosurgery - Ophthalmology - Orthopedic surgery - Otolaryngology (ENT) - Plastic surgery - Urology - Vascular surgery |