What Is Medicine?
Medicine is the science and practice of restoring health through diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease. It is a human enterprise, and as such, medical care is delivered within the context of societal values, beliefs, and ethics. Modern medical practitioners have extensive education, training and credentials, and are regulated by professional bodies and societies. They often work as part of a team with other healthcare professionals to deliver patient-centred care.
There are many different specialties in medicine. Most of them can be grouped into two broad categories: internal medicine and surgery. Internal medicine includes many subspecialties that focus on specific organ systems, diseases or age groups. For example, general hospital medicine is a specialty that deals with acute illness and injury, whilst paediatric medicine is the study of infants, children and adolescents. Medicine also encompasses a number of non-invasive and invasive clinical tests, such as blood, urine, skin biopsy, electrocardiogram (ECG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and x-rays.
The history of medicine stretches back thousands of years, and was for much of this time considered an art as well as a science. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates is considered to be the father of modern medicine, and he introduced many of the basic principles that are still in use today. For instance, he categorised illnesses as being either chronic or acute, and developed terms such as exacerbation, recurrence and resolution to describe the cycle of symptoms that an individual experiences with a particular illness.
Medicinal plants were also used in early medicine, and some of the first treatments were herbal in nature. However, the advent of chemistry and physics allowed for more scientific approaches to medicine, which included the development of laboratory techniques, such as chemical analysis and the microscope.
In modern times, most medical treatments and procedures are based on an understanding of the human body as a complex system. This understanding has been achieved through a combination of art and science. The former involves the application of knowledge, such as sterile technique for surgery, and the latter involves applying this knowledge to develop new diagnostic methods and therapies.
Most people rely on a range of different health care professions to help them live longer, healthier lives. These include nurses, emergency medical technicians and paramedics, doctors, psychologists, pharmacists, dietitians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, radiographers, physiologists and bioengineers. The interdisciplinary teams of professionals are supported by modern health care systems, which provide legal and credentialing frameworks and funding arrangements to deliver medical care.
In addition, modern medical science is informed by and influences many other disciplines, including biology (study of living organisms), chemistry, physics, mathematics, pharmacology, pathology, epidemiology, radiology, physiology, immunology, oncology and genetics. The field of medicine is continually evolving, and there are currently many debates about how best to integrate the latest medical research into clinical practice. These debates are often polarised between those who want to maintain the traditional role of physicians, and those who wish to incorporate the results of medical research into mainstream healthcare practice.
Medicine is the science and practice of restoring health through diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease. It is a human enterprise, and as such, medical care is delivered within the context of societal values, beliefs, and ethics. Modern medical practitioners have extensive education, training and credentials, and are regulated by professional bodies and societies. They often work as part of a team with other healthcare professionals to deliver patient-centred care. There are many different specialties in medicine. Most of them can be grouped into two broad categories: internal medicine and surgery. Internal medicine includes many subspecialties that focus on specific organ systems, diseases or age groups. For example, general hospital medicine is a specialty that deals with acute illness and injury, whilst paediatric medicine is the study of infants, children and adolescents. Medicine also encompasses a number of non-invasive and invasive clinical tests, such as blood, urine, skin biopsy, electrocardiogram (ECG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and x-rays. The history of medicine stretches back thousands of years, and was for much of this time considered an art as well as a science. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates is considered to be the father of modern medicine, and he introduced many of the basic principles that are still in use today. For instance, he categorised illnesses as being either chronic or acute, and developed terms such as exacerbation, recurrence and resolution to describe the cycle of symptoms that an individual experiences with a particular illness. Medicinal plants were also used in early medicine, and some of the first treatments were herbal in nature. However, the advent of chemistry and physics allowed for more scientific approaches to medicine, which included the development of laboratory techniques, such as chemical analysis and the microscope. In modern times, most medical treatments and procedures are based on an understanding of the human body as a complex system. This understanding has been achieved through a combination of art and science. The former involves the application of knowledge, such as sterile technique for surgery, and the latter involves applying this knowledge to develop new diagnostic methods and therapies. Most people rely on a range of different health care professions to help them live longer, healthier lives. These include nurses, emergency medical technicians and paramedics, doctors, psychologists, pharmacists, dietitians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, radiographers, physiologists and bioengineers. The interdisciplinary teams of professionals are supported by modern health care systems, which provide legal and credentialing frameworks and funding arrangements to deliver medical care. In addition, modern medical science is informed by and influences many other disciplines, including biology (study of living organisms), chemistry, physics, mathematics, pharmacology, pathology, epidemiology, radiology, physiology, immunology, oncology and genetics. The field of medicine is continually evolving, and there are currently many debates about how best to integrate the latest medical research into clinical practice. These debates are often polarised between those who want to maintain the traditional role of physicians, and those who wish to incorporate the results of medical research into mainstream healthcare practice.