Medicine

Medicine is a branch of health science concerned with maintaining human health and restoring it by treating disease and injury; it is both an area of knowledge, a science of body systems and diseases and their treatment, and the applied practice of that knowledge.

Settings where medical care is delivered

See also clinic, hospital, and hospice

Related Topics:
Clinic - Hospital - Hospice

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Medicine is a diverse field and the provision of medical care is therefore provided in a variety of locations.

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Primary care medical services are provided by physicians or other health professionals who has first contact with a patient seeking medical treatment or care. These occur in physician's office, clinics, nursing homes, schools, home visits and other places close to patients. About 90% of medical visits can be treated by the primary care provider. These include treatment of acute and chronic illnesses, preventive care and health education for all ages and both sex.

Related Topics:
Primary care - Clinic - Nursing home - School - Home

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Secondary care medical services are provided by medical specialists in their offices or clinics or at local community hospitals for a patient referred by a primary care provider who first diagnosed or treated the patient. Referrals are made for those patients who required the expertise or procedures performed by specialists. These include both ambulatory care and inpatient services, emergency rooms, intensive care medicine, surgery services, physical therapy, labor and delivery, endoscopy units, diagnostic laboratory and medical imaging services, hospice centers, etc. Some primary care providers may also take care of hospitalized patients and deliver babies in a secondary care setting.

Related Topics:
Medical specialist - Ambulatory care - Inpatient - Emergency room - Intensive care medicine - Surgery - Physical therapy - Labor and delivery - Endoscopy - Laboratory - Medical imaging - Hospice

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Tertiary care medical services are provided by specialist hospitals or regional centers equipped with diagnostic and treatment facilities not generally available at local hospitals. These include trauma centers, burn treatment centers, advanced neonatology unit services, organ transplants, high-risk pregnancy, radiation oncology, etc.

Related Topics:
Tertiary care - Trauma center - Burn - Neonatology - Organ transplant - Radiation - Oncology

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Modern medical care also depends on information - still delivered in many health care settings on paper records, but increasingly nowadays by electronic means.

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