In medicine, medical treatment is the use of medicines and other methods to control a health problem and reduce pain or other symptoms. Sometimes, medical treatment can cure a disease and prevent it from returning. Medical treatment can be done by health care providers, such as doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, dentists, and pharmacists. It can also be done by other trained health professionals, such as dietitians, respiratory therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and radiographers.
Doctors are trained in the basic sciences of physiology, pathology, biochemistry, and pharmacology. They then choose to specialize in a number of fields, e.g., cardiovascular disease, gastroenterology, neurology, infectious diseases, gynecology, surgery, and radiology. In addition, some physicians pursue subspecialty fellowships to enhance their knowledge in areas like urology and oncology.
Many patients find themselves in the position of having to make decisions about their medical treatment without a full understanding of available options. This can be particularly true when the patient is suffering from a rare disorder or has received a diagnosis that does not fit traditional models. In this situation, it is especially important for the health care provider to communicate clearly with the patient and to be candid about both benefits and risks.
The patient can then make an informed decision about whether or not to accept a particular course of action. However, this does not mean that the patient has to settle for what their health insurance company or doctor recommends. For example, if the patient has a choice of hospitals, it is worth asking about pricing information so that they can shop around to see which facility offers the best value.
Often, the best way to know if a given medical treatment is effective or safe is to participate in an appropriate clinical trial. The results of this research will show the degree to which a new treatment works, how well it is tolerated by different people, and whether any unwanted side effects occur. It is very difficult for doctors to predict how a specific patient will respond to a new treatment, as people are very different from one another.
Patients with life-threatening conditions can be understandably desperate to try anything that might help them. However, they should only do this with the help of a health care provider who can explain the pros and cons of all available treatments, including untested ones. It is also important that the patient ask the doctor to explain how the outcome of a treatment will differ between people, and why. This is known as the principle of informed consent and has become increasingly important since the Nuremberg trials and Tuskegee syphilis experiment. This principle also applies to complementary and alternative medicines. For example, if a patient is being treated for a headache with medication but is still suffering from the pain, the health care provider should consider giving the patient a placebo to test if that helps.