Ask Me Everything8

After completing their training, many doctors swear an oath to practice medicine ethically. It is based on the Hippocratic oath, named after Hippocrates, an Ancient Greek physician in the 300s bce—although no one knows if he really wrote it!

Medical

specialisms

Anesthesia —controlling pain

Cardiology—heart and blood vessels

Dermatology—skin

Endocrinology—endocrine system

Gastroenterology—digestive system

Geriatrics—elderly patients

Gynaecology—female reproductive organs

Hematology—blood

Hepatology — liver

Nephrology—kidneys

Neurology — brain and nervous system

Oncology—cancer

Ophthalmology eyes

Orthopedics—muscular and skeletal systems

Otolaryngology—ear, nose, and throat

Pediatrics—children

Pathology—examining body samples to diagnose disease

Plastic surgery—appearance and reconstruction

Psychiatry—emotional and behavioral disorders

Pulmonology -lungs and respiratory system

Radiology—x rays and medical imaging

Rheumatoiogy—inflammatory diseases such as arthritis

Urology—urinary tract

Thermometer to measure body temperaturę, which can be an indicator ot underlying infections.

Ophthalmoscope to examine inside the eye to check the health ot the retina.

Sphygmomanometer to measure blood pressure,

which may seem too high or Iow for the patients age and weight.

Scalę to check body weight

to make surę that patient is not gaining or losing too much weight.

To identify a disease, doctors consider symptoms and signs. Symptoms are things experienced by the patient, such as pain or swelling. Signs are what the doctor observes during a physical examination and the results of medical tests. Tests can include:

I don t I believe it ■

The punishment for a doctor found guilty of medical incompetence in ancient Babylon was to have his hands cut off.