Medicine

Medicine
Medicine is a science that aims to prevent or treat the disorders that affect human body. These range widely, from minor injuries, such as a sprained ankle, to life-threatening conditions, such as heart disease.
The skill and knowledge of doctors and nurses, as well as major advances in modern diagnostic technology, surgery and drugs have made medicine highly effective. Today, more people live in good health, for longer than ever before.
Diagnosis
Identifying the cause of an illness and prescribing the appropriate treatment is called diagnosis. It requires great skill from the doctor, and involves a number of stages.
After listening to a description of the symptoms, the doctor examines the patient, for ex. checking heart beat or boiling point. Samples may be sent for testing, before a doctor finally decides on a course of treatment, or refers the patient to a specialist at a local hospital.
Patients are not always able to describe the symptoms of their illness.
Symptoms and signs
Symptoms are the indications of an illness noticed by a patient and described to the doctor. Symptoms include pain, bleeding, or a rash. The doctor considers these factors with any signs of disease that he or she notices, to formulate a diagnosis.
Tests
Doctors use a range of diagnostic tests to help them make an accurate diagnosis. They may take samples of blood, urine, mucus, vomit, or pus. The samples are put in labeled tubes and sent for testing at a laboratory.