What Is Medicine?
Medicine is a profession and practice that involves treating diseases, illnesses and injuries. Historically, it was often seen as an art (requiring creativity and skill), with roots in religion and philosophy, such as herbalism and the Greek “four humours”. Increasingly, it has become a science, requiring sophisticated research and analysis. This shift was accelerated by the fourteenth and fifteenth century Black Death pandemic, the rise of universities and the Catholic Church, and advances such as Edward Jenner’s smallpox vaccine, Robert Koch’s discovery of bacteria, and the invention of antibiotics.
There are a number of different fields in medicine, and each has its own sub-disciplines. For example, biochemistry is the study of chemical components of living cells and organisms. The branch of medicine known as pathology is the scientific diagnosis of disease, using tissue samples to determine the cause and course of a disorder. Clinical pharmacology is the medical and scientific study of pharmaceutical medications, including where they come from, how they work, and their side effects. The field of radiology uses X-rays to diagnose and treat diseases.
The discipline of neuroscience is the scientific study of the brain and spinal cord. This includes their anatomy and physiology, as well as the neural mechanisms that control movement and emotion. There are also some medical specialties that apply biological science to human behaviour, such as behavioural medicine and psychotherapy.
Another medical field is forensic medicine, which studies questions of criminal law and evidence, such as determination of time of death, the type of weapon used to inflict injury, and facial reconstruction to aid identification. A forensic scientist may be involved in the preservation and collection of human remains.
Most countries have laws governing the training and accreditation of doctors. This generally requires a medical degree from a university and registration with a medical board or equivalent organisation, who may require a doctor to pass exams. The laws are intended to restrict the practice of medicine to those who are trained and qualified to do so, as a protection against charlatans who practise unproven therapies for financial gain.
There are also a wide variety of medical ethics, which are concerned with moral issues that arise in the practice of medicine. These include ethical dilemmas that can arise when the values of a patient or their family conflict with those of the hospital staff. They can also involve conflicts between the medical community and wider society, or even within a single hospital. In some cases, no clear answer to a moral question exists, and the matter is left to the discretion of the individual doctor. These matters are discussed in medical journals and at conferences. Medical coding is performed all over the world, with most countries using an official set of codes established by the World Health Organization and modified by each country to suit their own needs. These codes are based on the International Classification of Diseases, and include everything from conditions and diseases to poisons, neoplasms, injuries, causes of accidents, etc.
Medicine is a profession and practice that involves treating diseases, illnesses and injuries. Historically, it was often seen as an art (requiring creativity and skill), with roots in religion and philosophy, such as herbalism and the Greek “four humours”. Increasingly, it has become a science, requiring sophisticated research and analysis. This shift was accelerated by the fourteenth and fifteenth century Black Death pandemic, the rise of universities and the Catholic Church, and advances such as Edward Jenner’s smallpox vaccine, Robert Koch’s discovery of bacteria, and the invention of antibiotics. There are a number of different fields in medicine, and each has its own sub-disciplines. For example, biochemistry is the study of chemical components of living cells and organisms. The branch of medicine known as pathology is the scientific diagnosis of disease, using tissue samples to determine the cause and course of a disorder. Clinical pharmacology is the medical and scientific study of pharmaceutical medications, including where they come from, how they work, and their side effects. The field of radiology uses X-rays to diagnose and treat diseases. The discipline of neuroscience is the scientific study of the brain and spinal cord. This includes their anatomy and physiology, as well as the neural mechanisms that control movement and emotion. There are also some medical specialties that apply biological science to human behaviour, such as behavioural medicine and psychotherapy. Another medical field is forensic medicine, which studies questions of criminal law and evidence, such as determination of time of death, the type of weapon used to inflict injury, and facial reconstruction to aid identification. A forensic scientist may be involved in the preservation and collection of human remains. Most countries have laws governing the training and accreditation of doctors. This generally requires a medical degree from a university and registration with a medical board or equivalent organisation, who may require a doctor to pass exams. The laws are intended to restrict the practice of medicine to those who are trained and qualified to do so, as a protection against charlatans who practise unproven therapies for financial gain. There are also a wide variety of medical ethics, which are concerned with moral issues that arise in the practice of medicine. These include ethical dilemmas that can arise when the values of a patient or their family conflict with those of the hospital staff. They can also involve conflicts between the medical community and wider society, or even within a single hospital. In some cases, no clear answer to a moral question exists, and the matter is left to the discretion of the individual doctor. These matters are discussed in medical journals and at conferences. Medical coding is performed all over the world, with most countries using an official set of codes established by the World Health Organization and modified by each country to suit their own needs. These codes are based on the International Classification of Diseases, and include everything from conditions and diseases to poisons, neoplasms, injuries, causes of accidents, etc.