Medic: a medical student, practitioner, or a member of a medical corps.  Medicable: that may be medically treated; hence, curable.  Medical having to do with medicine: Medicating treat with Medicine,   Medicinal having to do with the curing of diseases,  Medicine: a substance or preparation used in preventing or treating disease: the science or art of treating and preventing diseases,  Medicine man: a healer who relies on supernatural power, as a witch doctor, shaman.

* Conventional Medicine (CM): Conventional Medicine: Medicine as practised by holders of M.D. (medical doctor) or D.O. (doctor of osteopathy) degrees and by their allied health professionals, such as physical therapists, psychologists, and registered nurses. Other terms for Conventional Medicine include Allopathy and Allopathic medicine; Western Medicine, Mainstream Medicine, Orthodox Medicine, and Regular Medicine; and Biomedicine.

* Mainstream (Western) Medicine (MM): As it is practiced today as part of the health care system in the industrial states of the first world. Very few alternative medical practitioners are licensed to practice Conventional Medicine. Since many Conventional Medical practitioners often extend the scope of their practice to alternative procedures (sometimes for seeing more clients) the reverse is not true. This article looks into the necessity of finding acceptable alternatives for purposes of serving the patient's best interest first, within the body of Mainstream Medicine. It also voices criticism concerning the human, individual and social issues involved in current Medical Practices, both Conventional and Alternative.

* Complementary Medicine: Different from Alternative Medicine (AM) whereas Complementary Medicine is used together with Conventional Medicine, Alternative Medicine is used in place of Conventional Medicine. An example of an Alternative Therapy is using a special diet to treat cancer instead of undergoing surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy that has been recommended by a physician. Complementary Medicine is a group of diagnostic and therapeutic disciplines that are used together with Conventional Medicine. Complementary Medicine is usually not taught or used in Western medical schools or hospitals. Complementary Medicine any of the practices (as Acupuncture) of Alternative Medicine accepted and utilized by mainstream medical practitioners; An example of a Complementary Therapy is using Aromatherapy to help lessen a patients discomfort following surgery. Complementary Medicine includes a large number of practices and systems of health care that, for a variety of cultural, social, economic, or scientific reasons, have not been adopted by mainstream Western Medicine.

* Traditional Medicine (TM)(Indigenous Medicine or Folk Medicine): Describes Medical knowledge systems, which developed over centuries within various societies before the era of modern medicine; traditional medicines include practices such as herbal medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, Unani medicine, acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, South African Muti, Yoruba Ifa, as well as other medical knowledge and practices all over the globe. WHO defines traditional medicine as "the health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being"

* Medicine: Is the science and "art" of maintaining and restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of patients. The term is derived from the Latin ars medicina meaning the art of healing. * The modern practice of Medicine: occurs at the many interfaces between the art of healing and various sciences. Medicine is directly connected to the health sciences and biomedicine. Broadly speaking, the term 'Medicine' today refers to the fields of clinical medicine, medical research and surgery, thereby covering the challenges of disease and injury.

* Evidence-Based Medicine: Is a recent movement to establish the most effective algorithms of practice (ways of doing things) through the use of the scientific method and modern global information science by collating all the evidence and developing standard protocols which are then disseminated to health care providers. One problem with this 'best practice' approach is that it could be seen to stifle novel approaches to treatment.

* Genomics and knowledge of human genetics: Is already having some influence on medicine, as the causative genes of most monogenic genetic disorders have now been identified, and the development of techniques in molecular biology and genetics are influencing medical practice and decision-making.

* Pharmacology: Has developed from herbalism and many drugs are still derived from plants (atropine, ephedrine, warfarin, aspirin, digoxin, vinca alkaloids, taxol, hyoscine, etc). The modern era began with Robert Koch's discoveries around 1880 of the transmission of disease by bacteria, and then the discovery of antibiotics shortly thereafter around 1900. The first of these was arsphenamine Salvarsan discovered by Paul Ehrlich in 1908 after he observed that bacteria took up toxic dyes that human cells did not. The first major class of antibiotics was the sulfa drugs, derived by French chemists originally from azo dyes. Throughout the twentieth century, major advances in the treatment of infectious diseases were observable in (Western) societies. The medical establishment is now developing drugs targeted towards one particular disease process. Thus drugs are being developed to minimise the side effects of prescribed drugs, to treat cancer, geriatric problems, long-term problems (such as high cholesterol), chronic diseases type 2 diabetes, lifestyle and degenerative diseases such as arthritis and Alzheimer's disease.

* The practice of medicine combines: Both science as the evidence base and art in the application of this medical knowledge in combination with intuition and clinical judgment to determine the treatment plan for each patient. Central to medicine is the patient-physician relationship established when a person with a health concern seeks a physician's help; the 'medical encounter'. Other health professionals similarly establish a relationship with a patient and may perform various interventions, e.g. nurses, radiographers and therapists.

* The Medical Encounter: Is documented in a medical record, which is a legal document in many jurisdictions.

* As part of the medical encounter: The health care provider needs to:

* Develope a relationship with the patient. * Gather data (medical history, systems enquiry, and physical examination, combined with laboratory or imaging studies investigations. * Anlyze and synthesise that data (assessment and or differential diagnoses), and then: * Develop a treatment plan (further testing, therapy, watchful observation, referral and follow-up): * Treat the patient accordingly: * Assess the progress of treatment and alter the plan as necessary (management).

* Medicine: Is practiced within the Medical System: Which is a legal, credentialing and financing framework, established by a particular culture or government. The characteristics of a health care system have significant effect on the way medical care is delivered. Most industrialised countries and many developing countries deliver health care though a system of universal health care which guarantees health care for all through a system of compulsory private or co-operative health insurance funds or via government backed social insurance. This insurance, (in effect, a form of taxation) ensures the entire population has access to medical care on the basis of need rather than ability to pay.

* Physicians: Medical Practitioner or Medical Doctor: Have many specialisations and subspecializations into certain branches of medicine, which are listed below. There are variations from country to country regarding which specialties certain sub specialties are in. A Physician is a person who practices medicine and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease and injury. This is accomplished through a detailed knowledge of anatomy, physiology, diseases and treatment - the science of medicine - and its applied practice - the art or craft of medicine.

* The physician-patient relationship can be analysed from the perspective of ethical concerns: In terms of how well the goals of non-maleficence, beneficence, autonomy, and justice are achieved. Many other values and ethical issues can be added to these. In different societies, periods, and cultures, different values may be assigned different priorities. For example, in the last 30 years medical care in the Western World has increasingly emphasised patient autonomy in decision making. The relationship and process can also be analysed in terms of social power relationships (e.g., by Michel Foucault), or economic transactions. Physicians have been accorded gradually higher status and respect over the last century, and they have been entrusted with control of access to prescription medicines as a public health measure.

* This represents a concentration of power: Carries both advantages and disadvantages to particular kinds of patients with particular kinds of conditions. A further twist has occurred in the last 25 years as costs of medical care have risen, and a third party (an insurance company or government agency) now often insists upon a share of decision-making power for a variety of reasons, reducing freedom of choice of health care providers and patients in many ways. The quality of the patient-physician relationship is important to both parties. The better the relationship in terms of mutual respect, knowledge, trust, shared values and perspectives about disease and life, and time available, the better will be the amount and quality of information about the patient's disease transferred in both directions, enhancing accuracy of diagnosis and increasing the patient's knowledge about the disease. Where such a relationship is poor the physician's ability to make a full assessment is compromised and the patient is more likely to distrust the diagnosis and proposed treatment. In these circumstances and also in cases where there is genuine divergence of medical opinions, a second opinion from another physician may be sought or the patient may choose to go to another doctor. In some settings, e.g. the hospital ward, the patient-physician relationship is much more complex, and many other people are involved when somebody is ill: relatives, neighbours, rescue specialists, nurses, technical personnel, social workers and others.

* Medical history and Physical examination: Complete medical evaluation includes a medical history, a systems enquiry, a physical examination, appropriate laboratory or imaging studies, analysis of data and medical decision making to obtain diagnoses, and a treatment plan.

* The Physical Examination: Is the examination of the patient looking for signs of disease ('Symptoms' are what the patient volunteers, 'Signs' are what the health care provider detects by examination). The health care provider uses the senses of sight, hearing, touch, and sometimes smell (taste has been made redundant by the availability of modern lab tests). Four chief methods are used: inspection, palpation (feel), percussion (tap to determine resonance characteristics), and auscultation (listen); smelling may be useful (e.g. infection, uremia, diabetic ketoacidosis).

* Branches of Medicine: Asclepius was the demigod of medicine, and the Rod of Asclepius with its single snake, is an ancient Greek symbol associated with medicine. The American Medical Association, the American Osteopathic Association, the Royal Society of Medicine, the Australian Medical Association, the British Medical Association, and the World Health Organization display the Rod of Asclepius in their logos or emblems.

* Working together as an interdisciplinary team: Many highly trained health profession also besides medical practitioners are involved in the delivery of modern health care. Some examples include: nurse(s) emergency medical technicians and paramedics, laboratory scientists, (pharmacy, pharmacists), (physiotherapy,physiotherapists), respiratory therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, radiographers, dietitians and bioengineers.

* The scope and sciences underpinning human medicine overlap many other fields: Dentistry and Psychology, while separate disciplines from medicine, are considered medical fields. A patient admitted to hospital is usually under the care of a specific team based on their main presenting problem, eg the Cardiology team, who then may interact with other specialties, eg surgical, radiology, to help diagnose or treat the main problem or any subsequent complications/ developments.

* Basic Sciences of Medicine: This is what every physician is educated in, and some returns to in Biomedical research # Preclinical research:

* Interdisciplinary Fields: where different medical specialties are mixed to function in certain occasions.

* Medical Specialty: In the broadest meaning of 'medicine there are many different specialties. However, within medical circles, there are two broad categories: "Medicine" and "Surgery." "Medicine" refers to the practice of non-operative medicine, and most subspecialties in this area require preliminary training in "Internal Medicine." "Surgery" refers to the practice of operative medicine, and most subspecialties in this area require preliminary training in "General Surgery." There are some specialties of medicine that do not fit into either of these categories, such as radiology, pathology, or anaesthesia, and those are also discussed further below.

* Surgical Specialties: Employ operative treatment. In addition, surgeons must decide when an operation is necessary, and also treat many non-surgical issues, particularly in the surgical intensive care unit (SICU), where a variety of critical issues arise. Surgery has many subspecialties, e.g. general surgery, trauma surgery, cardiovascular surgery, neurosurgery, maxillofacial surgery, orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology, plastic surgery, oncologic surgery, vascular surgery, and pediatric surgery. In some centres, anesthesiology is part of the division of surgery (for logistical and planning purposes), although it is not a surgical discipline.

* Surgical Training: In the U.S. Requires a minimum of five years of residency after medical school. Sub-specialties of surgery often require seven or more years. In addition, fellowships can last an additional one to three years. Because post-residency fellowships can be competitive, many trainees devote two additional years to research. Thus in some cases surgical training will not finish until more than a decade after medical school. Furthermore, surgical training can be very difficult and time-consuming. A surgical resident's average work week is approximately 75 hours. Some subspecialties of surgery, such as neurosurgery, require even longer hours, and utilize an extension to the 80 hour regulated work week, allowing up to 88 hours per week. Many surgical programs still exceed this work hour limit. Attempts to limit the amount of hours worked has been difficult because of the large volume of patients who require surgical care, the limited amount of resources (including a shortage of people willing to enter into surgery as a career), the need to perform long operations and still provide care to all pre- and post-operative patients, and the need to provide constant coverage in the OR, ICU, and ER.

* Internal Medicine: Is concerned with systemic diseases of adults, i.e. those diseases that affect the body as a whole (restrictive, current meaning), or with all adult non-operative somatic medicine (traditional, inclusive meaning), thus excluding Paediatrics, surgery, gynaecology and obstetrics, and psychiatry. Practitioners of such specialties are referred to as Physicians. There are several subdisciplines of internal medicine:

* Paediatrics and Family Practice: Are also considered to fall under the category of "Medicine."

* Medical Training, as opposed to Surgical Training: Requires three years of residency training after medical school. This can then be followed by a one to two year fellowship in the subspecialties listed above. In general, resident work hours in medicine are less than those in surgery, averaging about 60 hours per week.

* Medical Education: Is education connected to the practice of being a medical practitioner, either the initial training to become a physician or further training thereafter. Medical Education and training varies considerably across the world, however typically involves entry level education at a university medical school, followed by a period of supervised practice (Internship and/or Residency) and possibly postgraduate vocational training. Continuing medical education is a requirement of many regulatory authorities. Various teaching methodologies have been utilised in medical education, which is an active area of educational research. Presently, in England, a typical medicine course at university is 5 years after secondary education (4 if the student already holds a degree). Amongst some institutions and for some students, it may be 6 years (including the selection of an intercalated BSc taking one year at some point after the pre-clinical studies).

* This is followed by 2 Foundation years afterwards: Namely F1 and F2. Students register with the UK General Medical Council at the end of F1. At the end of F2, they may pursue further years of study. In the US and Canada, a potential medical student must first complete an undergraduate degree in any subject before applying to a graduate medical school to pursue an (M.D.) program. Some students opt for the research-focused MD PhD dual degree, which is usually completed in 7-8 years. There are cetain courses which are pre-requisite for being accepted to medical school, such as general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, english, labwork, etc. The specific requirements vary by school. In Australia, there are two pathways to a medical degree. Students can choose to take a five or six year undergraduate medical degree Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS or BMed) straight from high school, or complete a bachelors degree (generally three years, usually in the medical sciences) and then apply for a four year graduate entry Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) program.

* In most countries: It is a legal requirement for a medical doctor to be licensed or registered. In general, this entails a medical degree from a university and accreditation by a medical board or an equivalent national organization, which may ask the applicant to pass exams. This restricts the considerable legal authority of the medical profession to physicians that are trained and qualified by national standards. It is also intended as an assurance to patients and as a safeguard against charlatans that practice inadequate medicine for personal gain. While the laws generally require medical doctors to be trained in "evidence based", Western, or Hippocratic Medicine, they are not intended to discourage different paradigms of health.

* Criticism of Medicine has a long history: In the Middle Ages, some people did not consider it a profession suitable for Christians, as disease was often considered God-sent. God was considered to be the 'divine physician' who sent illness or healing depending on his will. However, many monastic orders, particularly the Benedictines, considered the care of the sick as their chief work of mercy. Barber-surgeons generally had a bad reputation that was not to improve until the development of academic surgery as a speciality of medicine, rather than an accessory field. Through the course of the twentieth century, health care providers focused increasingly on the technology that was enabling them to make dramatic improvements in patients' health.

* Criticism of Modern Medicine: Has led to some improvements in the curricula of medical schools, which now teach students systematically on medical ethics, holistic approaches to medicine, the biopsychosocial model and similar concepts.

* The inability of Modern Medicine: To properly address some common complaints continues to prompt many people to seek support from alternative medicine. Although most alternative approaches lack scientific validation, some may be effective in individual cases. Some physicians combine alternative medicine with orthodox approaches. Medical errors and overmedication are also the focus of many complaints and negative coverage. Practitioners of human factors engineering believe that there is much that medicine may usefully gain by emulating concepts in aviation safety, where it was long ago realized that it is dangerous to place too much responsibility on one "superhuman" individual and expect him or her not to make errors. Reporting systems and checking mechanisms are becoming more common in identifying sources of error and improving practice.

1. Internal Medicine - Kayachikitsa: Internal Medicine is the branch and specialty of medicine concerning the diagnosis and nonsurgical treatment of diseases in adults, especially of internal organs. Doctors of internal medicine, also called "internists", are required to have included in their medical schooling and postgraduate training at least three years dedicated to learning how to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases that affect adults. Internists are sometimes referred to as the "doctor's doctor," because they are often called upon to act as consultants to other physicians to help solve puzzling diagnostic problems. While the name "internal medicine" may lead one to believe that internists only treat "internal" problems, this is not the case. Doctors of internal medicine treat the whole person, not just internal organs.

In medicine, surgery (from the Greek, or chirurgical, and latin chirurgiae meaning "hand work") is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance, or sometimes for some other reason. An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical procedure, operation, or simply surgery. In this context, the verb operating means performing surgery. The adjective surgical means pertaining to surgery; e.g. surgical instruments or surgical nurse.

The patient or subject that the surgery is being performed on can be a person or an animal. A surgeon is a person who performs operations on patients. Persons described as surgeons are commonly medical practitioners, but the term is also applied to dentists and veterinarians. Surgery can last from minutes to hours, but is typically not an ongoing or periodic type of treatment. The term surgery can also refer to the place where surgery is performed, or simply the office of a physician, dentist, or veterinarian.

* Internal Medicine: Is the branch and specialty of medicine concerning the diagnosis and nonsurgical treatment of diseases in adults, especially of internal organs. Doctors of internal medicine, also called "internists", are required to have included in their medical schooling and postgraduate training at least three years dedicated to learning how to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases that affect adults. Internists are sometimes referred to as the "doctor's doctor," because they are often called upon to act as consultants to other physicians to help solve puzzling diagnostic problems. While the name "internal medicine" may lead one to believe that internists only treat "internal" problems, this is not the case. Doctors of internal medicine treat the whole person, not just internal organs.

Resources: (MedTerms): - Medical Dictionary definitions of popular medical terms easily defined on MedTerms. (NCCAM) - The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. (Wikipedia): - Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia Main article: Complementary and Alternative Medicine; Energy Therapies. (NIH) - National Institutes of Health. (MWD) - Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (IPL) - Internet Public Library: Health Medical Sciences. (Kofutu's CAM): - Glossary of Spiritual Terms. (Scared Texts) - The Internet Sacred Text Archive. (Search Kofutu)