The Branches of Medicine - Nonsurgical Specialties

Nonsurgical Specialties

Nonsurgical Specialties involves direct patient care.

1. Practitioners of internal medicine or internists are concerned with the diagnose and treatment of adults with diseases of the internal organs. Many internists specialize in a specific area of the body which led to the formation of nine subspecialties as follows:
• Cardiology - the care of patients with diseases of the heart and blood vessels.
• Endocrinology and Metabolism - the care of patients who have problems related to glands of the body.
• Gastroenterology - the study of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract; also deals with diseases of the liver and pancreas.
• Hematology - treats patient with diseases of the blood cells, bone marrow, and lymph nodes; also operate blood banks and manage patients with blood-clotting disorders.
• Infectious Disease Specialists - are consulted chiefly in the treatment of severe or exotic infections, the selection and use of antibiotics, and the management of complications resulting from their use.
• Specialists in Nephrology - are experts in the diagnosis and treatment of kidney diseases, also managing blood-dialysis centers for patients who lack functioning kidneys.
• Oncology - involves the treatment of cancer patients with chemotherapeutic agents; they frequently act in the capacity of general internists for such patients.
• Pulmonary disease - concerned with disease of the lung and air passages.
• Rheumatology Specialists - treat patients with joint diseases and joint-related systemic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus erythematosus.


2. Pediatrics is similar much like to internal medicine, but it deals instead with infants and children. Some pediatric subspecialties include pediatric cardiology, hematology/oncology, endocrinology, ad nephrology. These subspecialties differ from that of adults counterparts because adults and infants have different disease patterns. One subspecialty unique to pediatrics is neonatal-perinatal medicine dedicated to the management of premature infants and ill newborns. They also aid in caring for a child at risk before birth.
3. Allergy and Immunology deals with hypersensitivity disorders (such as asthma and food allergies), also treats immune-related problems (such as patients with organ transplants and patients incapable of manufacturing components of the immune system. Practitioners in this field has already completed training as an internist or a pediatrician.
4. Dermatology is the study of diseases of the skinor study of skin manifestations resulting from some factor in work areas. A dermatologists must understand the systemic diseases like skin rash, etc.
5. Preventive Medicine studies the means of improving the level of health in a community. There are 2 subspecialties which are:
   1. Occupational Medicine - devoted to detecting and measuring adverse effects of the workplace.
   2. Aerospace Medicine


6. Psychiatry is concerned with those brain functions expressed as behavior, mood, and intelligence.In general, they treat patients with nonorganic diseases of the brain. In where, nonorganic diseases are those in which no anatomical or chemical basis is identifiable. Psychiatrists also spend much of their professional time treating emotional responses to chronic disease.
7. Neurology is concerned with organic diseases of the central nervous system, including the brain. In general, they treat those with organic diseases. In where organic diseases are those in which the immediate cause can be observed directly or under a microscope or can be identified chemically.

Source:

• Grolier International Encyclopedia - Deluxe Edition