Health profession
A
health profession is a profession in which a person exercises
skill or judgment or provides a service related to:# the preservation or improvement of the
health of individuals, or# the treatment or care of individuals who are injured, sick, disabled, or infirm.
The delivery of modern health care depends on an expanding group of highly trained
professionals coming together as an
interdisciplinary team. Individuals are called health professionals if they participate in delivery of health care in some way. Thus, it is a rather broad term.
Medical doctors have specializations on the
medicine page. Often included as adjunct to
allopathic medicine are
osteopaths who are licensed with the same limitations and privileges as medical doctors.
Dentistry,
optometry,
podiatry, and
psychology, while separate disciplines from medicine, are often considered medical fields in the wider definition of the term. These practitioners are granted independent license to practice medicine and surgery and provide or prescribe medications within their fields. Practitioners such as
physician assistants,
nurse practitioners and
midwives also treat patients and prescribe medication in many legal jurisdictions; however, they do so under the direction and supervision of an independently licensed practitioner.
Medical professional in its broadest sense denotes a person involved in a skilled medicine or health related occupation, such as:
*
physician assistants and
dental hygienists
*
nurses of various qualifications, and
nursing assistants*
pharmacists
*
Medical technologists
*
hospital corpspeople in a military organisation
*
paramedics and
emergency medical technicians
*
technicians specialising in respiratory care and x-ray photography
* trained
first responders such as most
lifeguards and many
firefighters and
police officers
*
medical assistants working side by side with physicians and other members of the health care team mostly in private or group medical practices and clinics
*
biomedical equipment technicians or
bmets responsible for maintaining and repairing medical and patient care equipment in hospitals
*
medical librarians acquire, organize and disseminate
health information to health care professionals and health care consumers
The foundation sciences underpinning human medicine overlap
veterinary medicine, which includes both
veterinarians and
veterinary technicians (also
veterinary technologist).
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Allied health professions*
Alternative medicine*
Bioengineers*
Chiropodists*
Dentists*
Dietitians*
Laboratory scientists*
Medical assistants
*
Medicine*
Medical technologists
*
Nurses
*
Nutritionists
*
Occupational therapists*
Optometrists*
Paramedics
*
Pharmacists*
Physicians
*
Physiotherapists*
Podiatrists
*
Radiologists
*
Sanitary professions
*
Social workers
*
Speech therapists*
Veterinarians
