The Medicine Portal
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20220719221547im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Pellegrinaio_Santa_Maria_della_Scala_n5.jpg/240px-Pellegrinaio_Santa_Maria_della_Scala_n5.jpg)
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Contemporary medicine applies biomedical sciences, biomedical research, genetics, and medical technology to diagnose, treat, and prevent injury and disease, typically through pharmaceuticals or surgery, but also through therapies as diverse as psychotherapy, external splints and traction, medical devices, biologics, and ionizing radiation, amongst others.
Medicine has been practiced since prehistoric times, during most of which it was an art (an area of skill and knowledge) frequently having connections to the religious and philosophical beliefs of local culture. For example, a medicine man would apply herbs and say prayers for healing, or an ancient philosopher and physician would apply bloodletting according to the theories of humorism. In recent centuries, since the advent of modern science, most medicine has become a combination of art and science (both basic and applied, under the umbrella of medical science). For example, while stitching technique for sutures is an art learned through practice, the knowledge of what happens at the cellular and molecular level in the tissues being stitched arises through science.
Prescientific forms of medicine are now known as traditional medicine or folk medicine, which remains commonly used in the absence of scientific medicine, and are thus called alternative medicine. Alternative treatments outside of scientific medicine having safety and efficacy concerns are termed quackery. (Full article...)
Selected image –
Photo credit: Public Domain
WikiProject
Get involved by joining WikiProject Medicine. We discuss collaborations and all manner of issues on our talk page.
Related portals
Did you know –
- ... that Fanconi Syndrome is a disorder in which the proximal tubular function of the kidney is impaired, resulting in decreased reabsorption of electrolytes and nutrients back into the bloodstream?
General images –
More Did you know (auto generated)
- ... that James A. Merriman was the only Black graduate from Rush Medical College in 1902 and the first African-American physician to practice medicine in Portland?
- ... that Paul Rolan has been the principal investigator in more than 700 clinical research studies of new medicines?
- ... that the spotted lanternfly has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat swelling since the 1100s?
- ... that Indian gynaecologist and reproductive medicine pioneer Baidyanath Chakrabarty, who performed over 4,000 IVF procedures, was a cricket fan who thought Virat Kohli and Ashwin were "such good boys"?
- ... that according to Human Rights Watch, U.S. maximum pressure against Iran has seriously threatened Iranians' right to health and access to essential medicines including those of cancer patients?
- ... that German undercover agent Friedrich Salomon Hall's identity was betrayed by the corns on his feet?
Topics
Categories
Recognized content
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
</references>