Medical Care in the United States of America
Medical care is the medical care or enhancement of health through the diagnosis, prevention, therapy, healing, or rehabilitation of illness, disease, injury, and other bodily and psychological impairments in humans. Medical care is delivered either by medical professionals specializing in a particular medical discipline or allied health disciplines. Some health practitioners undertake additional courses specific to caring for people with disabilities. Others acquire additional education or training to specialize in a particular medical practice.
The broad scope of health care involves a range of activities that include diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, injuries, and illnesses; management of diseases, injuries, and illnesses; and education and training of health care providers. Different areas of medicine encompass different areas of medical care and therefore offer distinctive forms of care. These areas are divided into specialties. Examples of specialties are nursing, anesthesiology, dermatology, gastroenterology, psychiatry, and primary care medicine. All allied health professionals bear medical licenses to practice medicine.
The medical workforce in the United States consists of many men and women who have advanced degrees and experience in many different health care facilities. About 1.2 million licensed medical practitioners and technicians are currently licensed to provide medical care in the United States. Among these licensed professionals, more than two million are engaged in direct patient care in hospitals, clinics, and health facilities. These health care professionals are categorized as specialist physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and dental assistants. A large number of health care facilities employ the services of registered nurses. Together with these health care professionals, many others work in other health facilities such as hospitals, rehabilitation centers, home health care agencies, hospices, and others.
Among health care services, the most common is a medical diagnosis. This includes diagnosing and treating diseases, injuries, disorders, and conditions. These diseases and conditions include cancer, cardiac disease, asthma, diabetes, geriatric, pregnancy, orthopedic, psychology, physical therapy, psychosocial treatment, and surgical services. As far as medical care goes, physical therapy is one of the largest providers of this service. Physical therapy assists patients in the recovery process by performing muscle strengthening, rehabilitation, and functional movements.
Another category of medical services is that of Quaternary care. Quaternary care refers to medical interventions for young people, usually adolescents, in primary and secondary schools. Most health care interventions performed by Quaternary care professionals occur at school-based clinics. Examples of medical interventions for this field include pediatric visits, immunizations, and physical examinations.
A third major category of medical services is that of medical technology. The goal of this category of care interventions is to promote health services research. Medical technologies are used to improve current medical services. Examples of medical technologies used in this field include Computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound technology. By improving on this technology, we hope to improve the quality of life for all patients.
The last category of medical services is that of administrative and secretarial services. Administrative and secretarial services refer to any tasks that a primary care provider has to perform, such as scheduling appointments, managing financial accounts, answering phones, greeting patients, calling patients, preparing and administering medications, etc. In a perfect health care system, each primary care provider’s administrative and secretarial services should be performed by an independent contractor or employees who are not directly tied to the patient. Otherwise, the quality of care will suffer.
These are some of the examples of primary medical care services in the United States of America. There are other categories, but they will suffice to give you a good idea of what the medical field offers. You can also do further research to learn more about the topic. You can find out about the United States vs. England, Medicaid vs. Medicare, Canada vs. the United States, etc. In fact, there is so much information out there that it would literally take your life to read through it all. If you need further assistance with learning about this area of medical care, please visit our site.