Medical specialty
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A medical specialty is any one of the non-surgical branches of medical science, other than general practice.
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There are three agencies or organizations in the United States which collectively oversee physician board certification of allopathic and osteopathic physicians in the 26 approved medical specialties recognized in the United States. These organizations are the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and the American Medical Association; the American Osteopathic Association Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists (AOABS) and the American Osteopathic Association; the American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS) and the American Association of Physician Specialists. Each of these agencies and their associated national medical organization functions as an umbrella for its various specialty academies, colleges and societies:
| Certifying Board | National Organization | Physician Type |
|---|---|---|
| ABMS | AMA | Allopathic Only |
| AOABS | AOA | Osteopathic Only |
| ABPS | AAPS | Allopathic and Osteopathic |
All boards of certification now require that physicians demonstrate, by examination, continuing mastery of the core knowledge and skills for their chosen specialty. Recertification varies by specialty between every 7 and every 10 years.
Medical specialties
Specialized medical practices
- Anesthesiology — the branch of medicine which deals with anesthesia and anesthetics.
- Dermatology — deals with the skin and its appendages (hair, nails, sweat glands etc).
- Disaster medicine — branch of medicine that provides healthcare services to disaster survivors; guides medically related disaster preparation, disaster planning, disaster response and disaster recovery throughout the disaster life cycle andserves as a liaison between and partner to the medical contingency planner, the emergency management professional, the incident command system, government and policy makers.
- Emergency medicine — branch of medicine that is practiced in a hospital emergency department, in the field (in a modified form — see EMS), and other locations where initial medical treatment of illness takes place.
- Family medicine — branch of medicine that provides primary care treating acute and chronic illnesses, providing preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes.
- Internal medicine — concerns the diagnosis and nonsurgical treatment of diseases in adults, especially of internal organs.
- Neurology — focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and management of patients with neurological disorders.
- Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine — focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and management of patients with osteopathic somatic dysfunction.
- Nuclear medicine — branch of medicine and medical imaging that uses the nuclear properties of matter in diagnosis and therapy. Many procedures in nuclear medicine use radionuclides, or pharmaceuticals that have been labeled with radionuclides (radiopharmaceuticals).
- Occupational medicine — branch of clinical medicine which provides health advice to organizations and individuals concerning work-related health and safety issues and standards. See occupational safety and health.
- Obstetrics and gynaecology - the branches of medicine which deals with female reproductive organs, pregnancy, and childbirth.
- Ophthalmology - branch of medical practice dealing with the diseases and surgery of the visual pathways, including the eyes, brain etc.
- Pathology — the study and diagnosis of disease through examination of molecules, cells, tissues and organs. The term encompasses both the medical specialty which uses tissues and body fluids to obtain clinically useful information, as well as the related scientific study of disease processes.
- Pediatrics — deals with the medical care of infants, children, and adolescents (from newborn to age 16-21, depending on the country).
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation — deals with functional restoration of persons affected by physical disability.
- Preventive medicine — hat part of medicine engaged with preventing disease rather than curing it. It can be contrasted not only with curative medicine, but also with public health methods (which work at the level of population health rather than individual health).
- Psychiatry — medical field specializing in the prevention, assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of the mind and mental illness.
- Radiation oncology — pertains to the use of radiation therapy (the medical use of ionizing radiation) as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells (not to be confused with radiology - see below).
- Radiology - the use of radiation in medical imaging and diagnosis. X-rays, etc.
- Surgical specialties - the use of manually operative and instrumental techniques to treat patients
Medical subspecialties
- Cardiology — specializes in disorders of the heart and blood vessels. The field is commonly divided into subdisciplines dealing with congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology.
- Endocrinology — branch of medicine dealing with disorders of the endocrine system and its specific secretions called hormones.
- Gastroenterology — branch that studies the digestive system and its disorders.
- Geriatrics — branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis, care, and treatment of function and diseases of the aging patient.
- Hematology — concerned with the study of blood, the blood-forming organs, and blood diseases. Hematology includes the study of etiology, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and prevention of blood diseases.
- Immunology — covers the study of all aspects of the immune system, and deals with, among other things, the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and disease; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders (autoimmune diseases, hypersensitivities, immune deficiency, allograft rejection); the physical, chemical and physiological characteristics of the components of the immune system in vitro, in situ, and in vivo.
- Infectious disease specialty — deals with the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases.
- Intensive care medicine — concerned with the provision of life support or organ support systems in patients who are critically ill and who usually require intensive monitoring.
- Medical genetics — the application of genetics to medicine. Medical genetics is a broad and varied field. It encompasses many different individual fields, including clinical genetics, biochemical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, the genetics of common diseases (such as neural tube defects), and genetic counseling.
- Nephrology — the branch of internal medicine dealing with the study of the function and diseases of the kidney.
- Oncology — studies tumors (cancer) and seeks to understand their development, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
- Pulmonology — the specialty that deals with diseases of the lungs and the respiratory tract. It is called chest medicine and respiratory medicine in some countries and areas. Pulmonology is generally considered a branch of internal medicine, although it is closely related to intensive care medicine when dealing with patients requiring mechanical ventilation.
- Rheumatology — a subspecialty of internal medicine, devoted to the diagnosis and therapy of rheumatic diseases.
- Urology - dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of human Urinary systems
See also
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Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
