Medicine: Difference between revisions

|caption      = Statue of [[Asclepius]], the [[Greek God|Greek god]] of medicine, holding the symbolic [[Rod of Asclepius]] with its coiled [[Snake|serpent]]

'''Medicine''' is the [[science]]<ref>{{cite book | last = Firth | first = John | title = Oxford textbook of medicine | chapter = Science in medicine: when, how, and what | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford | year = 2020 | isbn = 978-0-19-874669-0 }}</ref> and [[Praxis (process)|practice]]<ref>{{cite journal |last=Saunders |first=John |title=The practice of clinical medicine as an art and as a science |journal=Med Humanit |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=18–22 |date=June 2000 |pmid=12484313 |doi=10.1136/mh.26.1.18 |s2cid=73306806 |url=|doi-access=free }}</ref> of caring for a patient, managing the [[diagnosis]], [[prognosis]], [[Preventive medicine|prevention]], [[therapy|treatment]],  [[Palliative care|palliation]] of their [[injury]] or [[disease]], and [[Health promotion|promoting their health]]. Medicine encompasses a variety of [[health care]] practices evolved to maintain and restore [[health]] by the [[prevention (medical)|prevention]] and [[therapy|treatment]] of [[illness]]. Contemporary medicine applies [[biomedical sciences]], [[biomedical research]], [[medical genetics|genetics]], and [[medical technology]] to [[diagnosis (medical)|diagnose]], treat, and prevent injury and disease, typically through [[pharmaceutical]]s or [[surgery]], but also through therapies as diverse as [[psychotherapy]], [[splint (medicine)|external splints and traction]], [[medical device]]s, [[biologic medical product|biologics]], and [[Radiation (medicine)|ionizing radiation]], amongst others.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/medicine | title=Dictionary, medicine | access-date=2 December 2013 | archive-date=4 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304154538/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/medicine | url-status=live }}</ref>

Medicine has been practiced since [[Prehistoric medicine|prehistoric times]], and for most of this time it was an [[art]] (an area of skill and knowledge), frequently having connections to the [[religion|religious]] and [[philosophy|philosophical]] beliefs of local culture. For example, a [[medicine man]] would apply [[herbs]] and say [[prayer]]s for healing, or an ancient [[philosopher]] and [[physician]] would apply [[bloodletting]] according to the theories of [[humorism]]. In recent centuries, since the [[history of science|advent of modern science]], most medicine has become a combination of [[art]] and [[science]] (both [[fundamental science|basic]] and [[applied science|applied]], under the [[umbrella term|umbrella]] of '''medical science'''). For example, while stitching technique for [[surgical suture|sutures]] is an art learned through practice, the knowledge of what happens at the [[cytology|cellular]] and [[molecular medicine|molecular]] level in the tissues being stitched arises through science.

Prescientific forms of medicine, now known as [[traditional medicine]] or ''folk medicine'', remain commonly used in the absence of scientific medicine, and are thus called [[alternative medicine]]. Alternative treatments outside of scientific medicine with safety and efficacy concerns are termed [[quackery]].