Medical specialty
Medical specialties focus practice on defined patient groups or diseases.
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Examples include pediatrics, oncology, pathology, and family medicine.[1] After basic training, physicians complete a multiple-year residency to become a specialist.[1]
Key facts and history
In Sweden, a medical license is required before commencing specialty training.[2] Medical professionals have exhibited some degree of specialization for a long time.[3] Galen noted that Roman physicians frequently practiced in specialized fields.[3] Before formal legal structures existed, informal social acknowledgment of specialization had already emerged.[3]
How medicine is divided into different specialties depends on the country and is not strictly defined.[3] Primary care is available in small towns, secondary care in medium-sized cities, and tertiary care in large metropolitan areas.[4] The number of specialists in a city is affected by income levels, population size, and how far patients must travel to see a doctor.[4]
What the cited sources add
The Australian and New Zealand Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons states that oral and maxillofacial surgery is recognized as a principal surgical specialty.[5] The same source notes that surgery of the mouth and jaws was part of general dentistry and general surgery until the 1950s.[5] The first oral surgery specialty in Australia and New Zealand was formed in the 1950s.[5] Since the 1990s, fully trained specialists with dental, medical, and extensive surgical training form the specialist group.[5]
Current requirements for entry to the oral and maxillofacial surgery training program require both dental and medical degrees.[5]
References
- Wikipedia, "Medical specialty" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Different Types of Doctors: Find the Specialist You Need", webmd.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Medical specialty" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Specialty training / residency", Lund University, Faculty of Medicine, 2015-05-20 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Medical specialty" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Weisz G, "The Emergence of Medical Specialization in the Nineteenth Century", Bull Hist Med, Fall 2003, p. 536–574 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Medical specialty" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Smith, "A guide to the delineation of medical care regions, medical trade areas, and hospital service areas", Public Health Reports, 1979, p. 248–254 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "About us". facts only, no text reused. anzaoms.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Medical specialty (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Medical specialty (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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