Health professional

NY College of Health Professions Massage Therapy Class
US Navy doctors deliver a healthy baby
70% of global health and social care workers are women, 30% of leaders in the global health sector are women
Dental assistant on the right supporting a dental operator on the left, during a procedure.
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Provider of health care treatment and advice based on formal training and experience.

- Health professional
NY College of Health Professions Massage Therapy Class

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A pregnant woman receives an ultrasound examination from a midwife sonographer

Midwife

A pregnant woman receives an ultrasound examination from a midwife sonographer
The 112 countries containing member associations of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) in 2017
Two French midwives (sages-femmes)
Tanzanian midwife weighing an infant and giving advice to the mother
US Navy midwife checks on a woman
A male midwife in Oslo, Norway
Pharaoh and the Midwives, James Tissot c. 1900

A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery.

A British nurse caring for a baby

Nursing

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A British nurse caring for a baby
Russian Sisters of Mercy in the Crimea, 1854-1855
Florence Nightingale was an influential figure in the development of modern nursing. No uniform had been created when Nightingale was employed during the Crimean War. Often considered the first nurse theorist, Nightingale linked health with five environmental factors:(1) pure or fresh air, (2) pure water, (3) efficient drainage, (4) cleanliness, and (5) light, especially direct sunlight. Deficiencies in these five factors resulted in a lack of health or illness. Both the role of nursing and education were first defined by Nightingale.
A recruiting poster for Australian nurses from World War I
A nurse in Indonesia examining a patient
A nurse treating a patient with burns, Ziguinchor PAIGC hospital, 1973
A nurse at Runwell Hospital, Wickford, Essex, in 1943
Two nurses in Arizona, 1943

Nurses may be differentiated from other health care providers by their approach to patient care, training, and scope of practice.

The Doctor by Luke Fildes (detail)

Physician

The Doctor by Luke Fildes (detail)
The Italian Francesco Redi, considered to be the founder of experimental biology, was the first to recognize and correctly describe details of many important parasites.
Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female physician in the United States graduated from SUNY Upstate.
Medical doctors per 1,000 people in 2018.
Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, the primary teaching hospital for the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, July 2010

A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease, injury, and other physical and mental impairments.

A clinician auscultating the chest of a pediatric patient.

Respiratory therapist

A clinician auscultating the chest of a pediatric patient.
Respiratory Therapist in an intensive care unit
Registered Respiratory Therapist
A Respiratory Therapist gives an immunization shot to a patient
A Respiratory Therapist teaches students about the dangers of smoking.
Anesthesia vaporizer
CABG surgery with CPB
A Respiratory Therapist takes a blood sample from a 3-day-old in preparation for transfer to an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation unit
A pediatric patient prepared for a polysomnogram by a Respiratory Therapist.
A premature infant on ECMO, a form of heart/lung machine, is being transferred between hospitals

A respiratory therapist is a specialized healthcare practitioner trained in critical care and cardio-pulmonary medicine in order to work therapeutically with people who have acute critical conditions, cardiac and pulmonary disease.

Al-Zahrawi, the Islamic Golden Age physician widely considered one of the '"Fathers of Modern Surgery"

Surgeon

Al-Zahrawi, the Islamic Golden Age physician widely considered one of the '"Fathers of Modern Surgery"
The Gross Clinic, 1875, Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Kakish Ryskulova - first female surgeon in Kyrgyzstan
Russian surgeon Nikolay Pirogov - a pioneer of field surgery
Victor Horsley pioneered neurosurgery

In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery.

Global concentrations of health care resources, as depicted by the number of physicians per 10,000 individuals, by country. Data is sourced from a World Health Statistics 2010, a WHO report.

Health care

Maintenance or improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration, or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people.

Maintenance or improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration, or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people.

Global concentrations of health care resources, as depicted by the number of physicians per 10,000 individuals, by country. Data is sourced from a World Health Statistics 2010, a WHO report.
Primary care may be provided in community health centers.
The emergency room is often a frontline venue for the delivery of primary medical care.
Hospital train "Therapist Matvei Mudrov" in Khabarovsk, Russia
Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, the primary teaching hospital of the University of Miami's Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine and the largest hospital in the United States with 1,547 beds
National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, United Kingdom is a specialist neurological hospital.

Health care is delivered by health professionals and allied health fields.

Example of historical public health recommendations from 1918 in New Haven, Connecticut, United States

Public health

Public health has been defined as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals".

Public health has been defined as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals".

Example of historical public health recommendations from 1918 in New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Community health workers
The WHO is the predominant agency associated with global health
Newspaper headlines from around the world about polio vaccine tests (13 April 1955)
Three former directors of the Global Smallpox Eradication Program reading the news that smallpox had been globally eradicated, 1980
A village health worker in Zimbabwe conducting a pediatric examination
A community health worker in Korail Basti, a slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh
A malaria test in Kenya. Despite being preventable and curable, malaria is a leading cause of death in many developing nations.
A Cuban doctor performs an open air operation in Guinea-Bissau. Cuba sends more medical personnel to the developing world than all G8 countries combined.
Mass burials during the second plague pandemic (a.k.a. the Black Death; 1346–1353) intensified urban responses to disaster on the basis of earlier practices. Miniature from "The Chronicles of Gilles Li Muisis" (1272–1352). Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, MS 13076–77, f. 24v.
A depiction of Aztec smallpox victims
Sir Edwin Chadwick was a pivotal influence on the early public health campaign.
Early epidemiologist John Snow mapped clusters of cholera cases in London
Paul-Louis Simond injecting a plague vaccine in Karachi, 1898
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is the oldest school of public health in the Anglosphere
Ghanaian children receive insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent exposure to malaria transmitting mosquitos

There may not be enough trained healthcare workers, monetary resources, or, in some cases, sufficient knowledge to provide even a basic level of medical care and disease prevention.

Eye examination with the aid of a slit lamp

Optometry

Specialized health care profession that involves examining the eyes and related structures for defects or abnormalities.

Specialized health care profession that involves examining the eyes and related structures for defects or abnormalities.

Eye examination with the aid of a slit lamp
An optometrist examining the eyes of a patient with a slit lamp biomicroscope
Page 423 from "A treatise on the eye, the manner and phaenomena of vision" by William Porterfield, Published 1759 in Edinburgh. In this book the word "optometer" appears for the first time.
Retinal camera
Fundoscopy by using 90 diopter lens with the slit lamp
A technician at Aviano Air Base Optometry Clinic measures the intraocular pressure of a patient with a handheld tonometer, July 7, 2015.

Optometrists are health care professionals who typically provide comprehensive primary eye care.

A man consulting with a pharmacist

Pharmacist

A man consulting with a pharmacist
Clinical pharmacists go on rounds with doctors in order to provide direct patient care and comprehensive medication management.

Pharmacists, also known as chemists (Commonwealth English) or druggists (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), are health professionals who control, formulate, preserve and dispense medications and provide advice and counselling on how medicines should be used to achieve maximum benefit, minimal side effects and to avoid drug interactions.

Limassol General Hospital in Cyprus

Hospital

Health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment.

Health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment.

Limassol General Hospital in Cyprus
Royal Brompton Hospital is one of the biggest heart and lung hospitals in the world.
During peacetime, hospitals can be indicated by a variety of symbols. For example, a white 'H' on a blue background is often used in the United States. During times of armed conflict, a hospital may be marked with the emblem of the red cross, red crescent or red crystal in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
Starship Children's Health is a children's hospital in Auckland, New Zealand
McMaster University Medical Centre is a teaching hospital in Hamilton, Ontario
Hospital beds per 1000 people 2013.
Hospital beds per inhabitants
Resuscitation room bed after a trauma intervention, showing the highly technical equipment of modern hospitals
View of the Askleipion of Kos, the best preserved instance of an Asklepieion.
Ruins of a two thousand-year-old hospital were discovered in the historical city of Anuradhapura Mihintale Sri Lanka
Entrance to the Qalawun complex in Cairo, Egypt which housed the notable Mansuri hospital.
A hospital ward in sixteenth century France.
1820 Engraving of Guy's Hospital in London one of the first voluntary hospitals to be established in 1724
Ruins of the Hospital San Nicolás de Bari in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, recognized by UNESCO for being the oldest hospital built in the Americas. Built between 1514 and 1541.
Pennsylvania Hospital (now part of University of Pennsylvania Health System). Founded in 1751, it is the earliest established public hospital in the United States. It is also home to America's first surgical amphitheatre and its first medical library.
A ward of the hospital at Scutari where Florence Nightingale worked and helped to restructure the modern hospital
Clinical Hospital Dubrava in Zagreb, Croatia
The medical center at the University of Virginia shows the growing trend for modern architecture in hospitals.
The National Health Service Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in the UK, showing the utilitarian architecture of many modern hospitals
Hospital chapel at Fawcett Memorial Hospital (Port Charlotte, Florida)
Hinduja National Hospital, Mumbai
An intensive care unit (ICU) within a hospital
Uniklinikum Aachen in Germany
Tampere University Hospital in Tampere, Finland
All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, India
Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania
Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami's Health District, the primary teaching hospital for the University of Miami's Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine and the largest hospital in the United States with 1,547 beds

A teaching hospital delivers healthcare to patients as well as training to prospective medical professionals such as medical students and student nurses.