Physician

From Healthcarepedia
Jump to: navigation, search

What is a physician?

A physician is a trained medical professional that is licensed to practice medicine. In the U.S., a physician is also known as a medical doctor or simply as a doctor.

Physicians are generally trained to provide care to individual patients by diagnosing and treating illness. They also engage in maintaining and promoting health.

A physician trained in the United States has either a Doctor of Medicine degree, and uses the initials "M.D." or has a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree and uses the initials "D.O."